


Love Buzz

by mikisupreme



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Eddie Kaspbrak Loves Richie Tozier, Endgame Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, F/M, Feels, First Kiss, First Time, Fluff and Angst, Gay Eddie Kaspbrak, Homophobia, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Minor Bill Denbrough/Stanley Uris, Oblivious Bill Denbrough, One-Sided Attraction, Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak, Richie Tozier is Whipped, Richie Tozier is a Little Shit, Sassy Stanley Uris, Sloppy Makeouts, Strangers to Lovers, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-23
Updated: 2018-09-08
Packaged: 2019-07-01 08:24:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 25,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15770292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mikisupreme/pseuds/mikisupreme
Summary: “Richie Tozier,” he says, anger bubbling like a soup, “give me one good reason why you’re bothering me.” Richie raises a thick eyebrow and shrugs as he jumps down to the seat next to Eddie’s.“Can’t a guy want to see his boyfriend?” Richie asks, ignoring the way Eddie chokes on his coke loudly.Richie works at a local movie theater Eddie just so happens to win free tickets to.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!! if you like this work come visit me at honeycombandtea.tumblr.com !! I love to hear feedback.

                 

                                                _Two weeks prior_

“You g-g-gonna see Candyman w-when it comes out?” Bill asked as he walked easily next to Eddie. Eddie shrugged, hands firmly placed in his pockets. Audra was in the middle of the boys, like usual, her hand snugly wrapped around Bill’s. Stan walked behind them at somewhat of a distance.

                “Kind of expensive,” Eddie said as he shivered from the slight autumn breeze. It was early September, but Derry had been very unkind with the temperature as of late. Eddie glanced at how warm Bill and Audra looked, all snuggled and close together like that, and felt hot jealousy run into his veins. He looked away and focused on the frost that had settled itself on blades of grass.

                “Yknow there’s a contest, right?” Stan asked from behind him as he peered from behind a book about cardinals. Eddie raised an eyebrow and shook his head slowly. “Well, there is. Maybe you should just sign up for the raffle?” He suggested quietly. Bill looked over to Stan for a split second, and Stan quickly looked back at his book. Eddie frowned slightly.

                “T-that’s a g-good idea,” Bill said as he gave Stan a smile he couldn’t see. Stan covered his whole face with his book. Audra nodded her head in agreement and pointed over to the movie theatre as they passed by.

                “Yeah! Why don’t you sign up now, Eddie?” She asked. Eddie shrugged as he stared up at the aged building. He remembered going to the theatre every weekend with Bill and Stan when they were just little kids. The last time he went he was probably 12, and they had snuck into a horror movie without staff noticing. Eddie cringed as he remembered the way they had all pissed themselves, (well, except Stan).

                “I guess I could,” Eddie said as he walked over to the ticket booth. Bill and the rest stayed on the sidewalk to wait for him. The ticket booth was empty as Eddie slowly approached and dinged the rusted bell. He waited for a whole five minutes until a guy who smelled a whole lot like weed stumbled out from the back. He crinkled his nose up in disgust as he stared as his dingy, wrinkled, and all around gross uniform (that stunk of weed).

                The guy pushed his glasses up farther onto his nose and looked back at Eddie with large, magnified eyes. Eddie watched as he pushed black, curly hair from out of his face and gave Eddie a slow smile.

                “Heya, pretty,” he said slowly as he drummed his nails against the wood of the stand. Eddie noticed the chipped black nail polish on his fingers. “You here for a ticket, or here for a date? I can provide both,” he said smoothly as he leaned his face into his hand. Eddie scoffed as he took in the man.

                “Excuse me?” he squeaked, unable to look away. The guy shrugged, face still firmly in his hand. He looked up at Eddie with dark brown eyes that were definitely red from smoking.

                “Welp,” he said, popping the ‘p’, “it’s not often I get cute guys to come around here.” Eddie felt his whole face turn red as he forced himself to not look at his eyes.

                “Yeah, well with a creep like you why would they?” He sneered. The guy laughed and slapped his knee. Eddie looked back up, mostly from surprise, to watch as the guy wiped a tear of laughter from his eye.

                “You got spunk, short-stack! I like it,” he winked as he thumbed through the tickets. Eddie could reach over and choke him. Who the hell did he think he was? Eddie fumed as he did his best to calm himself.

                _Mommy says violence never solves anything_ , he reminded himself as he forced a mechanical smile.

                “Don’t call me ‘short-stack’, please,” he tried as he reached over for the contest sheet, “and I’m here for the raffle.” The guy looked up at him and smiled as he ‘accidentally’ brushed hands with Eddie. Eddie moved his hand as if he’d been burned. The other man only looked mildly disappointed as he handed him the sheet.

                “What should I call you then? My soulmate?” He asked and chuckled at his own joke. Eddie sighed as he scribbled his name down and handed it back to the guy. He read the name carefully and gasped in surprise.

                “What?” Eddie asked, his cheeks pink. The guy looked up at him with a wicked grin, and Eddie wasn’t sure if he felt excitement or dread bubble in his stomach.

                “We have AP calculus together, Eddie Kaspbrak,” the guy said with a grin. Eddie couldn’t hold in his groan as he stared at Richie Tozier from his math class. Richie was a natural genius and never bothered to do his work- or pay attention. On the other hand, Eddie had many sleepless nights under his belt to study for a test he’d barely pass. Richie was loud and gross during classes, so Eddie had done his best never to interact with someone of _that_ caliber. Which, of course, he just had failed.

                “That’s a fake name,” Eddie said quickly, but Richie just rose his eyebrows. Eddie watched as he submitted his name into the raffle a good twenty times. “Hey, what the fuck?” Eddie said as Richie blatantly cheated. Richie looked up to him as if innocent.

                “Huh? Oh, this?” He asked as he continued placing Eddie’s name in. “I want you to win,” he said simply. Eddie stared dumbly as a red-haired girl popped out from the back.

                “Leave him alone, Rich,” she hissed as he gave Eddie an apologetic smile. “Sorry about him, I’m- “

                “Beverly Marsh, I’ve heard of you,” Eddie said as he smiled awkwardly. She smiled back, but it was tinged with sadness. Eddie felt guilt gnaw at his stomach for introducing himself like that.

                “Yeah, who hasn’t?” She asked, mostly to herself. She looked back to Richie as if a scolding mother. “Now, go back and get your work done, Rich,” she said. Richie whined as he got up from the stand and made his way to the back door. He winked over at Eddie and clicked the door behind him.

                “Well,” Eddie said as he glanced back towards his friends, “I should get going.” Beverly nodded curly and Eddie walked away with a shiver.

                Richie fucking Tozier would be the death of him.

* * *

 

                     _Present Day_

“Holy shit,” Stan says, his jaw nearly hitting the floor of Eddie’s carpeted floor,” you actually _won_ the tickets?” Eddie looks up at him, nearly mirroring his expression of shock, and then glances back down at the tickets he was clutching. He nods dumbly up at Stan, as if lost on what to say. Stan raises his eyebrows and quickly grabs them from Eddie.

                “Hey, give them back!” Eddie hisses, reaching over to snatch them back. Stan keeps Eddie away with one arm as he tilts the tickets up to the light in Eddie’s room. Eddie groans as he pushes harder against Stan’s arm.

                “Oh my god,” Stan says, handing them back to Eddie, “they’re _real!_ ” Eddie curses as he snatches them back and neatly smooths them out.

                “No shit, Sherlock!” He quips as he carefully makes sure that the tickets have no creases in them. Stan stares at the tickets- he’s practically salivating.

                “It’s not every day that the movie theatre actually gives out tickets,” Stan reminds him for the fourth time this week as he shrugs on his jacket. Eddie tosses him his shoes and Stan catches them without even looking. _Effortlessly cool,_ Eddie thinks.

                “You don’t think I know that? I had my name entered for the contest like twenty times,” Eddie says, rolling his eyes even though Stan couldn’t see it. Stan shrugs as he steps into his sneakers and looks over at Eddie.

                “I’m kind of shocked you wanted a ticket to Candyman though,” Stan says as he quickly checks his reflection in Eddie’s bedside mirror. Eddie smirks and mirrors Stan’s previous shrug.

                “Who’re you looking nice for? Bill?” Eddie teases, relishing in the way Stan’s usually stoic appearance takes on a flustered sheen whenever Eddie mentions Bill. Stan’s ears were a bright red as he flips Eddie off.

                “You know he has a girlfriend, Eddie,” Stan mumbles, zipping up his jacket and not making direct eye contact with him. Eddie sighs as he gingerly sits down on his perfectly made bed.

                “For now he does, Stanny,” Eddie gently reminds him as he looks up at Stan. Stan shakes his head and his curls go every-which-way. Eddie watches them enchantedly.

                “I’m not a homewrecker,” he says, deadpanning. He looks over to the tickets one last time, his hand on Eddie’s door. “Who are you taking?” He asks. Eddie shrugs as he glances down at the tickets.

                “Well, Bill is busy with Audra, and you’re going birdwatching so,” Eddie trails off, still looking down at the glossy tickets in his hand. Stan sighs as he starts to slowly open Eddie’s door.

                “So, you’re going to go by yourself? What about Mike?” Stan asks, his voice showing a bit of concern for his friend. Eddie sighs and allows himself to fall back on the bed. He stares up at his ceiling fan in disinterest.

                “You know Mike has work this weekend,” Eddie says, eyes still watching his fan move round and round. Stan clicks his tongue in response.

                “Well, try and have fun?” Stan asks. Eddie sits up, ready to respond, but Stan has already quietly shut Eddie’s door. Eddie can hear him wish his mother a good day and shut the front door with a small thud. He falls back onto his pillow and sighs.

                “Yeah, I’ll try,” he says to no one at all.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie goes to the movies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!! If you like what I write, please visit me on honeycombandtea.tumblr.com ! I'd love to talk to you.  
> (Also this was supposed to be posted on the 24th but for some reason its not SO enjoy the other chapter I guess lmao)

                Eddie stares up at the theatre, still debating if he should actually put the tickets he won to good use. Of course, he _knew_ he was going to win it, anyway, with the amount of times Richie wrote his name in. He shivers a bit at just the thought of the boy from his math class. The way he acts so chilled out and makes everything a joke. Eddie finds himself lightly scoffing as he makes the choice to _watch_ the movie. _No boy will keep him from enjoying something free_ , he decides. He walks up to the ticket booth to see Beverly Marsh picking at her black nail polish.

                _Isn’t that the same shade he had on?_

Eddie wonders if they’re, like, _dating_ or something. Somehow the thought of it sends a weird ‘ew’ feeling through his body. She looks up at him with red-rimmed eyes and smiles softly. Eddie feels his cheeks tinge a little pink. Beverly was extremely pretty, rumors or no rumors. She waves slightly, and Eddie holds up his hand back. “So, you won the tickets?” She says with no shock in her voice. Eddie nods and holds them out for her. She looks at them carefully and nods to herself. “Yup, those are the real deal,” she says. Eddie scoffs.

                “Who in their right mind would fake tickets for a Derry theatre?” He asks. She laughs and shrugs as she takes them and puts them in a box. He watches as she carefully places it under the ticket stand.

                “I dunno. I didn’t even think you’d show up,” she admits, looking up at Eddie through her choppy bangs. Eddie raises an eyebrow and gives a high-pitched, nervous laugh. She gives him a small smile.

                “Why wouldn’t I?” Eddie asks as she wraps up and gets ready for the next customer. She looks at him like he’s just said something incredibly stupid. She reaches through the small opening and places a hand on Eddie’s shoulder. Eddie feels himself stiffen awkwardly under the contact. He never really did too well with touching girls.

                “Richie is a lot for people to handle, he scares a lot of people off,” she says, as if whispering a government secret. Eddie rolls his eyes and easily steps out of the touch. Beverly looks at him for a moment before retracting her arm.

                “I’m not scared of Richie Tozier,” Eddie says defensively, a stubborn blush splattering itself across his freckly cheeks. Bev smiles at him and shakes her head.

                “Oh, boy,” she laughs to herself, “I didn’t mean it like that.” Eddie bites down on his bottom lip but ends the conversation there. He gives Beverly a little wave as he walks into the Candyman. He finds a seat near the top and hunkers down- soda and candy in hand. Sonia never lets him enjoy sweets at his house-

                _(they’ll rot your teeth, Eddie-Bear)_

-so he was definitely going to enjoy them here. He takes a huge slurp of his coke and sighs in contentment. There was nothing a whole lot of sugar couldn’t fix. The movie begins, and an already eerie feeling situates itself in Eddie’s spine, causing him to shiver. The theatre is sparsely packed, like usual, with just a few middle schoolers huddling up close to the screen. Eddie cringes as he once again remembers pissing his pants and coming home to an irate Sonia. He actually wasn’t sure which one was worse.

                He jumps and, admittedly, screams when he feels a finger poke into his back. He watches in horror as the middle schoolers look back at him, giggling. He whips around to tell the person to fuck off, but the curse dies in his throat. He feels his lip curl up in aggravation.

                “Richie Tozier,” he says, anger bubbling like a soup, “give me one good reason why you’re bothering me.” Richie raises a thick eyebrow and shrugs as he jumps down to the seat next to Eddie’s. “That’s dangerous!” Eddie chides, but Richie pays no mind as he sprawls out next to the smaller boy.

                “Can’t a guy want to see his boyfriend?” Richie asks, ignoring the way Eddie chokes on his coke loudly. Eddie feels his whole face becoming redder than the gore on the big screen. Richie looks over to him out of the corner of his eye and smirks. “Plus,” he whispers, goofy smile on his face, “you made me a winner.”

                “What the hell does that mean?” Eddie asks, raising his voice. He’s not sure if he’s pissed or ashamed that a middle schooler shushes him from below. Eddie immediately lowers his voice anyway. “And I’m not your boyfriend! I’m not even gay!” Eddie says, voice cracking at the end of the sentence. Richie looks less than impressed as he leans back in the seat.

                “Bev made a bet you wouldn’t come back,” he says, chuckling into the dark, “and I said otherwise. No one can get enough of Daddy Richie.” Eddie gags as he scoots farther into his seat. Richie wiggles his eyebrows, but surprisingly, he doesn’t do much else.

                “You’re disgusting,” Eddie says, nose crinkling. Richie picks at his nail polish and hums quietly to himself. Somehow, Eddie starts to drown out the movie all together.

                “Guilty as charged,” he says, flashing Eddie another one of those goofy huge smiles. Eddie smiles back and tries to direct his attention back to the movie. He gets about maybe a good three seconds in before Richie speaks up. “Can I walk you home?” Richie asks, fluttering his eyelashes in an exaggerated fashion. Eddie looks back over at him and tries not to have a panic attack.

                “I don’t even know you!” Eddie squeaks, trying to come up with a viable excuse. Richie just shrugs and his uniform rides up a little on his sides. Eddie feels hot, almost tangible, disgust fly into his body when he looks a little _too_ long.

                “But you do, Eds,” Richie says, smiling innocently, “and I want to walk you home.” Eddie ignores whatever nervous feeling that creeps into his stomach.

                _Mommy says not to talk to strangers! Mommy says not to-_

                “Fine, as long as you don’t call me ‘Eds’ anymore,” Eddie says, nodding resolutely to himself. Richie fist pumps the air triumphantly.

                “Hell yeah!” He says, way too loud for a theatre setting. The middle schoolers all look incredibly pissed as they turn around. Eddie gives Richie a bad look as he hauls him out of his seat and to the exit. “Woah, woah!” Richie exclaims as soon as they’re outside. The September breeze spills through Eddie’s light shirt and he shivers. “What the hell is up with that, Eds?” Eddie groans and massages his temple.

                “First off, don’t call me Eds,” he says, glaring at Richie, “second, we were definitely two seconds away from being kicked out.” Richie shrugs, back turned towards Eddie as he stares up at the sky. Eddie watches how the wind tussles his hair.

                “We would have been fine! I _work_ there, yknow?” Richie says, turning to face Eddie with a smile. Eddie flushes from the cold and turns to look somewhere else. Who did this kid think he was, anyway? Eddie didn’t even know him before a week ago, and now? Eddie shakes his head in a desperate attempt to remove all the frantic thoughts clawing at his mind. “You wanna go home, Eds?” Eddie takes a deep breath in and tries not to act too much like an asshole. He hates Eds, he hates that his tickets were wasted, he hates this kid from math who smiles way too much for his own damn good-

                “Yeah, just take me home,” Eddie says, wrapping his arms around himself. Richie raises an eyebrow before unzipping his hoodie and tossing it over to Eddie. Eddie almost misses the catch, but it thankfully lands in his hand. “What’s this for?” He asks, squinting over at the stranger who wasn’t so much of one anymore. Richie shrugs, obviously shaking slightly from the chill.

                “You need it more than I do, short-stack,” he says, moving off in a random direction. Eddie huffs, but he pulls it on anyway.

                                “Don’t call me short-stack, either, asshole!” Eddie says, bumping into Richie’s side. “Also, this isn’t even the right way to my house,” he adds. Richie shrugs and points over to a beat-up truck at the farthest part from the theatre.

                “Yeah, walking home is romantic, but I ain’t no Casanova, baby,” he says as he unlocks the door and gets inside. Eddie laughs lightly as he slides into the passenger side and buckles in. Eddie watches with narrowing eyes as Richie moves to pull out of the parking lot.

                “Seatbelt, Richard,” Eddie chides, his hands buckling Richie in without thinking about it. He immediately rips his hands away. What the hell was he doing? What has gotten _ahold_ of him?

                “Thanks, Mom,” Richie mumbles as he smoothly backs up and out of the parking lot. The radio in the truck plays a faint tune Eddie doesn’t recognize. He watches Richie as he mumbles the lyrics under his breath and taps his knuckles on his steering wheel. “You know this one, Eddie?” Richie asks, actually using his real name for once. Eddie decides then that he doesn’t like the way it sounds from Richie.

                “I don’t know it,” Eddie says simply, his ears listening closely to the words. Richie hums as he hits the radio when it starts to fade to static. “Nice truck you got here,” Eddie quips. Richie looks accomplished as he gets the radio to work.

                “Yeah, well, she runs,” He says, going back to listening to the song. Eddie looks outside of the window and watches as the small town of Derry flashes by him like a dream. Eddie wishes that was all Derry was. Some sort of bad dream he could wake from with the snap of fingers. The evening sky burns red and blue as it shifts into night time. Richie looks over from the wheel. “This place yours?” He asks, using one hand to gesture to Eddie’s small two-story home. Eddie looks at him weirdly before nodding cautiously.

                “Yes,” he says, eyeing Richie up and down, “how did you know that?” Richie shrugs, still drumming his painted nails against the wheel.

                “You know Mike Hanlon?” He asks, ceasing his drumming for a moment. Eddie nods in response. “Cool. Yeah, Mike and I go wayyy back,” he says, reaching over Eddie to pull open the door.

                “Uh, thanks, Richie,” Eddie says, obviously flustered as he climbs out of the truck. (he only almost trips once or twice) Richie chuckles behind him, hand pushing up his glasses.

                “No problem, princess!” He says with a grin as he revs his engine. Eddie watches as he pulls out of the drive and soars into the purple evening sky.

                “That’s not safe!” Eddie shouts, knowing full well Richie wouldn’t hear him. He watches the truck until it turns the corner and disappears from his sight.

               


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie tries (and fails) to sort out his feelings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello friends! If you like this story, please come and send me an ask on honeycombandtea.tumblr.com! Thank you!

                Eddie finds his head pounding when he wakes up the next day. He wraps his comforter around his body snugly and buries deep into his pillow. Maybe it wasn’t real? Maybe he had just dreamed up the tickets and the movies and…

                Eddie blushes furiously as he rolls around on his bed. God, _whatever this was_ , he hates it. He even debates skipping school just to avoid the annoying thoughts plaguing him.

                “Eddie!” He hears Sonia shriek from downstairs. “Eddie-Bear! You’re going to be late!” Eddie groans as he flops out of his bed and onto the floor with a dull thud. His mom pounds up the stairs and opens the door- her face beat red. “Eddie, dear, are you okay?” She says breathlessly as she stoops over Eddie. Eddie nods an affirmative _yes_ , but of course, Sonia doesn’t believe it. She paws all over him and stands him up with shaking hands. “Oh, Eddie! You could have broken your nose!” Eddie pulls away roughly, face crinkling in unhidden disgust.

                “I’m _fine._ ” Eddie says as he begins to grab a shirt from his dresser. Sonia purses her lips but says no more as she stomps out of his room. Fake tears collecting in her eyes and all the usual whining to herself. Eddie sighs to himself as he throws the shirt on and rummages around for a nice pair of pants. Sonia was absolutely suffocating, and there was no end to her torture. From cancelling sleep overs all the way to showing up at two in the morning to grab Eddie from bed- she had done it all.

                Eddie shivers as if he can still feel the cold of that October night. He lets his eyes flutter shut as he still feels his mother’s thick hand wrap around his tiny wrist and tug him out of Bill’s bed.

                _I knew it! I knew you were sleeping with the other boys!_

Eddie shakes his head as he roughly tugs his pants on. He stumbles to his bathroom and hurriedly brushes his teeth.

                “Fuck,” he hisses to himself, looking back at the clock, “I have less than fifteen minutes.” He brushes his hair in (probably) record time and takes the stairs by two, ignoring Sonia’s warnings. “See you later, love you!” He calls as he rushes out of the door and flies onto his bike. He pedals without even looking back and hurriedly turns the corner of his street. He can hear her calling for him to ‘wait up’ from the doorway. So, he does what any good boy would do!

He pedals even faster.

* * *

 

                He walks into Derry High with heaving lungs and a bike that looks pretty messed up. Unfortunately for Eddie, he wasn’t aware of the huge cracks in his sidewalk. He rubs at his elbows as he shuffles up to his locker and opens it with a thunk. He stares at his reflection in the small mirror and tries to fix his mess of hair.

                “Jesus, you look terrible,” Stan comments from behind him. Eddie shoots him a glare as he turns around, subconsciously patting his hair down.

                “You wouldn’t believe the morning I’ve had,” Eddie says, looking back at the mirror to check for any fly-aways. Stan raises an eyebrow in response and Eddie sighs loudly.

                “I wrecked my bike,” he says, pointing to his bandage covered elbows with distain. Stan hums to himself and shakes his head.

                “What am I going to do with you, Eddie,” Stan muses to himself as he gingerly touches the bandage. “Is this Hello Kitty?” Stan says, trying to suppress a laugh. Eddie wrenches his elbow away and flushes.

                “They were the only ones in the kit!” He says, hand wrapping over his elbow to conceal it. Stan laughs loudly, eyes crinkling up. “You should be thankful I’m even letting you talk to me, underclassman,” Eddie jokes, smiling at Stan. Stan grumbles something unintelligible, cheeks reddening substantially. Eddie loves getting Stan to show just a bit more emotion that the usual stoic face he often wore.

                “I’m only one year below you,” Stan says, rolling his eyes. Eddie shuts his locker quickly and shrugs as he and Stan begin to make their way to AP calculus. Eddie feels his blood run completely cold as he stops in the middle of the hall. “Eddie? Are you dead?” Stan asks, moving his hand up in front of Eddie’s face. Eddie feels his jaw hit the floor as he remembers something _crucial._

_“We have AP calculus together, Eddie Kaspbrak,” the guy said with a grin._

“I have this class with Richie Tozier!” Eddie squeaks, immediately turning to run to the bathrooms. Stan grabs him by his backpack strap and turns him around. Eddie watches as a couple of kids turn to give him strange looks.

                “What? Who’s Richie Tozier?” Stan asks, confusion blatant in his tone. Eddie sputters pathetically as he tries to tell him how Richie was _intimidating_ and _funny_ and-

                “That’d be me,” Richie says from behind them, wiggling his eyebrows. Stan looks at Eddie and then to Richie, then back to Eddie again. Eddie feels like he could fucking pass out on the disgusting hall floor.

                “Holy shit, you’re friends with that loud kid?” Stan asks, no emotion present in his tone. Eddie doesn’t even get to answer before Richie does.

                “Well, thanks, Stanthony,” Richie cries, hand over heart. “You’ve hurt me bad, baby,” he says in a fake southern drawl. Stan cringes as he presses a hand to his temple. He moves out of the way and goes into the classroom.

                “I’m letting you handle this one, Eddie,” Stan says as he shuts the door behind him. Eddie stares up at Richie completely stupefied. Richie looks at him expectantly as he fiddles with his gaudy Hawaiian shirt.

                “What the fuck are you wearing?” Eddie manages, looking Richie up and down. His shirt was paired with khaki shorts and knee socks. Richie shrugs, carefree as ever, and chuckles to himself.

                “Well, I like to turn off the lights and randomly stick my hand into my closet,” he explains, gesticulating the process, “whatever I grab I put on.” Eddie looks up at him like he’s the biggest idiot he’s ever seen. Richie raises an eyebrow and looks down at Eddie’s elbow curiously. “Hello Kitty?” He asks, pointing to the bandages. Eddie blushes as he once again puts his hands over his elbows.

                “I wrecked my bike this morning,” he says, chewing on his bottom lip. Eddie tries to suppress the shock he feels when Richie’s demeanor suddenly changes. He’s swarming around Eddie and carefully looking at every scratch and new-forming bruise. Eddie finds himself flushing again from embarrassment. (At least, that’s what he’s calling it)

                “Was your bike the one that looked like it pedaled through hell and back?” Richie asks as he finally steps away from Eddie. Eddie feels himself aching at the lack of his closeness. The smell of his cologne and-

                _No._

Eddie shakes his head and forces his mind back into his body. “Uh, yeah,” he says as he walks into their classroom, Richie hot on his heels. “Just wasn’t paying attention to where I was going,” Eddie mumbles as he takes a seat towards the front of the room. Richie sits right next to him. “You sit in the back,” Eddie says slowly, hand pointing to Richie’s vacant seat. Richie shrugs as he kicks his feet up carelessly.

                “Not today I don’t,” he says simply. Eddie doesn’t fight with his logic- maybe he doesn’t want to. He bites the inside of his cheek as the silence drags on between them. Somewhere off in the distance the school bell rings. “Want a ride home today?” Richie asks, eyes flicking over to Eddie casually. Eddie feels his chest seize up and his heart do a weird sort of spasm.

                “Of course not!” Eddie says, scoffing. “Who’d want a ride with you?” He mumbles that last bit, eyes weirdly trained on his backpack- not the guy sitting beside him. Richie laughs to himself as he takes out his binder and splays it on the table.

                “You did a couple of days ago, Eds,” he practically hums as he pulls out a shockingly organized set of notes. Eddie does a double take.

                “You take notes?” Eddie says, bewildered as he takes in the perfectly aligned columns. Richie smiles and his eyes shine brightly thanks to the light of the window.

                “When I feel like it,” He says as he grabs a pencil and puts the binder away. Eddie stares over at him until he’s sure Richie can feel his eyes, and then he looks away. What the hell was wrong with him?

                “And _I_ feel like you should take your feet off the desk, Mr. Tozier,” Mrs. Carnegie says, her mouth pinching upwards in annoyance. Richie sulks like a child and gives her puppy eyes.

                “Come on, girl! You know you love the Rich,” he says, fluttering his eyelashes at her. She looks grossed out in response.

                “That’ll be a detention, Mr. Tozier, and I’m sure you don’t want _another_ one,” she says simply, returning back to the blackboard. Richie sighs as he removes his feet from the desk. Eddie raises and eyebrow and pokes him in the arm.

                “How many detentions have you had?” He asks, flabbergasted. Richie counts on his fingers, a mock look of concentration on his face.

                “Sorry, Spaghetti, I lost track after ten,” he says, as if proud of the fact. Eddie finds himself shocked that this was the same guy who was supposedly a genius.

                “I’ll take the ride,” Eddie blurts out of nowhere. Richie perks up immediately and spins around in his chair.

                “Yes!” He says, way too loudly for a classroom setting. “I can’t wait to makeout under the sunset and-“

                “Jesus Christ, you’re disgusting!” Eddie squeaks as he throws his hands over his eyes.

                “Mr. Kaspbrak and Mr. Tozier!” Their teacher huffs from the front of the room. “You’re both treading a very fine line!”

                “Finer than your mustache?” Richie asks. The rest of the class explodes in laughter-

                Eddie watches as Richie takes the detention with pride.

 

* * *

 

                “He’s just so infuriating!” Eddie is ranting to Stan on their way to lunch- his cheeks still sort of flushing. “He almost got me a detention, Stan! I’ve never gotten in trouble in my life!” Eddie squeaks as he grabs onto Stan’s arm. Stan looks more than unpleased as he pushes his way through the crowded halls and into the cafeteria.

                “I can’t help you with that one, Eddie,” Stan says, pulling up some chairs for their usual table, “if you dislike him that bad, don’t talk to him.” Eddie wants to pull his hair out as he sits next to him. Stan pulls out his packed lunch and offers Eddie a chocolate bar. “Thought you might need some sweets,” he says, giving Eddie a small smile. Eddie grabs the bar up and tears into it- half moaning from bless.

                “God, you’re a fucking saint,” he mumbles, mouth full of chocolate. Stan shrugs as he bites into his apple. “It’s not that I dislike him,” Eddie says as soon as he’s swallowing his first bite, “he just makes me feel weird.”

                “Who makes you feel weird?” Ben asks, sitting down next to Eddie. Eddie tries to mime what he means- his mouth still full of chocolate- but Ben just looks puzzled at best.

                “Richie Tozier,” Stan says for him, giving Eddie a look, “he’s in our math class.”   

                “I-isn’t t-that the dude w-who gets a bunch of d-d-detentions for stupid shit?” Bill asks as he and Audra sit down together. Stan immediately closes back up into himself and grabs a book from his backpack. Audra nods excitedly as she reaches over and snags a drink of Bill’s soda.

                “Oh, I know him! He’s hilarious,” she says, giving Eddie a warm smile. Eddie rolls his eyes as he finishes up his snack.

                “Yeah, hilariously stupid,” he quips, crumpling up the wrapper.

“Who’s hilariously stupid?”

Eddie looks up to find, to his complete horror, Mike and Richie sitting down at his table. _Their_ table. His skin feels all itchy and hot and _goddamn_ could he use more chocolate.

                “Oh Christ,” Eddie mumbles, head in hands. “What’re you doing here?” He asks, eyes glancing up through his fingers to Richie. Richie points to Mike with a shit-eating grin.

                “Richie and I go way back,” Mike says simply as he pops open his milk. Richie nods along with him as he reaches over and ruffles Eddie’s hair.

                “I’ll break your nose, asshole!” Eddie huffs, twisting to get out of his grip. Richie frowns and fake sobs as he slumps into his chair.

                “I think you hurt its feelings,” Stan says, talking for the first time in ten minutes. Bill laughs maybe a bit too loud at the joke, and Stan closes up again. Eddie sighs as he watches Stan ‘read’ the same page he’s been on another ten times.

                He’s just thankful when school ends, but he quickly changes his tune as Richie bumps into his side in the hall.

                “Spaghetti!” He cries as Eddie moves away from him. “Ready to go home?” Eddie will definitely say no. He’ll walk away and never talk to Richie again, because he’s just too _Richie_ for any human to handle. He’ll definitely-

                “Yeah, yeah,” he says instead, hand pushing on Richie’s back, “lets go.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie and Richie go to a local diner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi y'all! If you're enjoying this story, please leave me some feedback and or visit me at honeycombandtea.tumblr.com !! it means the world to me.

                Eddie is once again sitting in the passenger seat of Richie Tozier’s truck. How did he let himself get into this position again? It’s like he just can’t say no to Richie _. Why would he want to, anyway?_ Eddie shakes his head as he buckles his seatbelt with a small resounding click. Richie is drumming his nails against the wheel with a big, goofy smile plastered on his face.

                “What are you smiling about?” Eddie asks, trying to bite down a smile of his own. Richie shrugs in response as he turns a sharp left. Eddie raises an eyebrow at him. “You definitely know why you’re smiling, Richie,” he says, fiddling with the strap of the seatbelt. Richie looks over to him and winks.

                “You let me drive you home again, Eds. I’m the happiest man alive!” He says, eyes crinkling up fondly. Eddie feels disgust make its home inside his body as he twists his head to look out the window. The sight of the fast-moving world outside just makes him nauseous.

                “Don’t call me that,” he manages, watching as Richie pulls off at a diner. “This definitely isn’t my house,” Eddie mutters as Richie parks near the front. Richie hums as he pulls the key from the ignition and kicks open the rusted door.

                “I know,” he says in a sing-song voice. Eddie crinkles up his nose as he, too, unbuckles his seatbelt. He jumps out of the truck and nearly trips, but Richie quickly supports his side. “Careful there, don’t want you falling for me too soon!” He laughs, cheeks red from the cold wind.

                “First of all, fuck off,” Eddie says, brow furrowing, “second of all, are you going to kidnap me? This definitely feels like a kidnapping.” Richie rolls his eyes as he holds the door to Maxine’s open.

                “Definitely not,” Richie says as he scans the place for a free booth. He makes a small ‘a-ha’ noise when he spots one and ushers Eddie over. “But your mom? Totally different scenario. I’d snatch her up anytime,” he says quickly as he takes a seat. Eddie follows behind him and slides into the opposite side of the booth.

                “I’ll walk home, jackass,” Eddie quips as he props open a menu, _clearly_ showing he wasn’t planning on leaving anytime soon. Richie smirks as he leans his face into his hand.

                “Really, then?” He asks, chuckling lightly into his hand. Eddie feels his heart clench weirdly in his chest. “Well, then get up and go,” Richie jokingly offers, his hand slowly moving towards Eddie’s. Eddie peers his eyes over the menu and watches as their fingertips meet. His mouth goes completely dry as he stares.

                “You two figured out what you want?” A female voice asks from in front of them. Eddie suppresses a scream as he rips his hand away and shoves it into his pocket. Richie clears his throat awkwardly and rapidly drums his fingers against the table.

                “Think I’ll just have a coffee. You can hold the sugar though, ‘cause you’re all the sweetness I need,” Richie tries a lame attempt at a joke. The waitress laughs lightly and shakes her finger at Richie.

                “Richie, you’re too much!” She giggles, twirling an auburn strand of hair around her finger. Richie smiles in return, but it lacks the usual luster. “How about you, young man?” Eddie jumps a bit in his seat when he realizes he’s being addressed. He feels his palms begin to sweat profusely as he rapidly scans the menu. What was this feeling?

                _It’s almost like he was breaking the law. Doing something absolutely unforgivable._

  
“Eggs and toast,” he mumbles, unable to look up from the menu. She makes a weird sort of hum as she scribbles down the order. Eddie meets eyes with her for a small smile before she scurries back to the kitchen. The atmosphere is quiet and tense around the two boys. Quiet seems louder than it should ever be as Eddie places his menu back on the table.

                “Did you sit in sugar?” Richie asks out of nowhere, cutting down the tension in Eddie’s shoulders with just one question. Eddie relaxes- slumping down without even knowing it- and shakes his head at Richie.

                “Don’t you dare, Richard- “

“’Cause you got a sweet ass! Am I right?” He says, gesturing to the whole diner. A couple of older men are giving Richie bad looks. Eddie kicks Richie’s leg from under the table, and he yelps. “Jesus, Eds! You have some strong toes,” he hisses, hand flying down to rub at his calf.

                “Don’t be gross,” Eddie says, sticking his tongue out. Richie makes a funny face in return and they end up trading weird faces back and forth until the waitress comes back out for the second time.

                “Well, nice to see you boys are having,” she glances over to Richie, who currently is in the middle of flaring his nostrils, “…fun.” Eddie laughs hard as Richie wiggles his eyebrows with his nostrils still impossibly flaring outwards. She places both of their orders on the table and walks away without much of anything else. Richie finally relaxes his nose and laughs so hard he snorts loudly. Eddie jumps in his seat at the sound.

                “We would be such a good comedic duo, Eds!” Richie beams, taking a grateful sip of his coffee. Eddie tilts his head curiously as he pokes at his eggs.

                “I’d be the only funny one. You’d just be telling dick jokes the whole time,” Eddie accuses as he takes a small bite of toast. Richie nods, enthused.

                “That’s the point, though! Two really different kinds of funny _making_ funny _together_.” He says, wiggling his eyebrows. Eddie shakes his head as he bites into his eggs.

                “Well, maybe we could- “

                “It’s like comedic love making,” Richie says. He takes a sip of his drink and looks back up to Eddie with mirth dancing in his brown eyes. “You _do_ know about fucking, don’t you, Eds?” He asks, no sign of modesty gracing his features. Eddie sputters as he nearly chokes on a piece of his toast.

                “I’m going to actually, seriously, _really_ kill you in this diner,” Eddie says, hand inching towards the fork. Richie looks unbothered as he continues to drink.

                “Looks kinky,” he says with a wink, ignoring how Eddie twitches with annoyance, “my safe word is yellow.” The rest of the meal goes pretty normal between the two of them. They banter, since that is probably the foundation of their friendship, and do something maybe a little more.

                _Flirting?_

Something in his mind seems to be determined on making Eddie Kaspbrak have a mental breakdown. _It’s not flirting, It’s not!_ He chants over and over in his head- choosing to ignore the way Richie opens the door of his truck for him. Richie turns the key into the ignition and starts up the bucket of rust (with many groans of disapproval from the machine itself). They drive in a surprising silence for the first five minutes. Eddie is feeling the fall wind dust itself on his face, and he even allows his eyes to close for a few moments.

                “You know I like girls, right?” Eddie says so quietly he’s not even sure he’s said it at all. Well, that is until Richie makes a strange noise beside him. He looks over to see Richie almost wincing. “I just want to make sure that we’re clear, that’s all,” Eddie says, arms crossing over each other. Richie takes the last turn to Eddie’s house and parks up by the curb. Eddie watches as his fingers twitch against the wheel. He opens his mouth and closes it several times, too, and seems to get more frustrated with each attempt.

                “Understood, Captain K!” He says instead, mouth booming into that huge grin. Eddie feels weirdly somber as he smiles back. He opens the door with some effort and steps outside- the sunset painting his face in golden hues. He stares at Richie, his hand still on the door of the truck, unmoving. “I don’t have all day, princess,” Richie jokes quietly. Eddie snaps from his daze as he backs further into his yard.

                “Oh, whatever,” he huffs as he goes to shut the door. He stops for just a moment. “See you at school?” He asks quietly. Richie laughs, head in his hand just like that day at the movie theatre.

                “Of course you will, Eds,” he says. Eddie smiles as he shuts the door with a thunk. He watches as Richie speeds away, once more into the sunset, and feels something tingly in his blood. He shakes his head hard.

                It couldn’t be. _He couldn’t be._

                “Eddie Kaspbrak!” He jumps loudly as Sonia comes tumbling out of the door. She grabs Eddie harshly by his arm and tugs him inside his house. “Where were you? Who in the world was that? Oh god, are you hurt?” She talks a mile a minute as Eddie tries to calm down his swimming head. He pulls away from her grip long enough to take in an uneven breath. She tries to approach him again, but he keeps her at arm’s length.

                “I’m fine!” He says, practically begging her to leave him alone. “I’m fine, mommy! I just came back home from a study date with a friend.” Eddie says, voice shaking in fear. Sonia purses her lips in disbelief as she wrenches Eddie’s head up.

                “Do you have hickies?” She says as she pats down the sides of his neck. Eddie could fucking puke all over their tile floor. He pushes away from her roughly.

                “No, I don’t have hickies, mommy!” He whines as she once again tries to inspect him. “I was with Stan,” Eddie lies, watching as Sonia deflates just a bit. She nods once, twice, and eventually backs up completely.

                “Stanley is a good boy, respectable,” she mumbles to herself, hands still wringing together. Eddie nods enthusiastically as he creeps towards the stairs.

                “Yes! Yes, Stanley is a good boy,” Eddie says softly, one foot touching down on the first step. Before she could say anything more, Eddie was sprinting up the stairs by two and throwing himself into his bedroom. He collapses onto the bed and sighs shakily as he presses his hands to his face. “God, please save me,” he whispers into his hands fervently.

But no one comes.

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie and Richie take a secret trip to the quarry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FIRST OF ALL PLEASE READ THIS! This is my last chapter i wrote in advance so everything else will be posted probably every other day :( I love posting daily but it's just not something that sustainable since I'm in school again. I really hope you understand ! thank you x  
> (if you like this fic please come say hi at honeycombandtea.tumblr.com !)

Eddie is staying home from school, _much_ to his dismay, thanks to Sonia and her insistent worrying. She’s marching around Eddie’s room and scrubbing everything until it shines unnaturally. Eddie is huddling in his bed with the covers wrapping snug around his torso. Sonia barely spares him a glance as she rubs sanitizer over Eddie’s desk for the third time.

                “I think it’s good, mommy,” Eddie says softly as Sonia tightens her face up into an aggravated scowl. She whips around to meet Eddie’s eyes and sticks a finger in his direction. Eddie gulps loudly.

                “I am just trying to make you _better_ , Eddie!” She exclaims, her lower lip a wobbling mass as she begins to move closer to him. “I want my little boy to be healthy, okay?” She asks, lowering her voice to a sickly-sweet coo as she tucks a stray hair behind his ear. Eddie nods as he tries to steady his rapid breathing. Sonia is right, isn’t she? She is his _mother_ and she’s taking care of him _and Eddie is so, so sickly. Poor, sick little Eddie Kaspbrak._  

                “Yes, mommy, I know,” Eddie says, feeling a shudder pass through him when she hugs him too tight. It’s like he’s some sort of pet or object to be put on a shelf, and only taken off to be dusted. Delicate and pretty and serving its purpose as eye candy. Nothing more, nothing less. She rubs circles into his small back as she moves away- her eyes misty.

                “My precious boy, you’re all I have,” she says, lip starting to wobble again. Eddie can barely keep his eyes from rolling. He knows this trick all too well. “That’s why I’m getting you new medicine today at the pharmacy,” she says, hands wringing tightly together. Eddie doesn’t have it in him to be angry or demand an explanation, but he does have it in him to produce a wet sounding laugh. Pain resounding as it echoes in the room.

                “Of course,” he says, laughing quietly again into his hands. “New medicine, wonderful,” he whispers. His mother is obviously terrible at reading the mood as she smacks her hands together happily and takes off for Eddie’s bedroom door.

                “It is wonderful, Eddie-Bear! You’ll be all better soon,” she cries as she hurries her way down the stairs and shuts the front door behind her. Eddie listens as her station wagon starts up and makes its way down the lonely street. He takes his turn to wring his hands together as he sits up in his bed.

                Honestly, Eddie used to think it was cool to have a mom who would let him ‘skip’ a few days of school back when he was in first grade. He remembers how he bragged about it to Bill and Stan when he had missed his first day of school in early September. As he got older, however, he realized his mom wasn’t just giving her kid a break from school. It had grown into something Eddie recognized as manipulation- deceitful- but his love for his mother kept him from _truly believing it._ If his mother says he’s sick, then he has to be sick. A mother knows best, after all. Eddie shakes out his hair as he gets up and softly walks to the corner of his room.

                He picks up his cassette player and tapes gingerly and plops back down on his soft comforter. Eddie runs his thumb over fading labels- some so faded they were hardly anything more than an impression- and grabs one up he likes. He pops in the tape gently and presses the play button. The silence of the house is soon being filled with beautiful, living music. The kind of music that makes Eddie forget how fucked his adolescence is.

_Huh huh huh hu-uh huh_ _  
Huh huh huh hu-uh huh_

Eddie allows himself to daydream as the song softly enters his ears. He dreams of being with Bill and Stan, sneaking into movies in the dead of night. How Stan could name birds like Eddie could name pills. He thinks of Bill’s younger brother, George, and how he passed away when they were all just little kids. Maybe they still **_are_** just little kids, but in bigger bodies.

_So true, funny how it seems_ __  
Always in time, but never in line for dreams  
Head over heels when toe to toe  
This is the sound of my soul

His mind shifts suddenly from platonic thoughts of his childhood best friends to wild hair and dark eyes. Plump, pillow-like lips that Eddie wonders, just for a moment, what it would feel like to tug them between his teeth. What it would _sound_ like when he pulls away- chest heaving with something he’s never dared to name before.

                “God, make it go away,” he whines, hands cradling the sides of his head. If his mom knew, if she even had the slightest idea, Eddie would never leave this room again. He’d probably never even wake up to greet another day. His mother would make up a fake story about his death, but she’d know, and so would Eddie.

                _This is the sound_

Eddie muffles a scream through his hands when he hears the first tink against his window. He peers between the cracks of his fingers- heart in his throat. Through the glass pane, he can clearly see a lanky boy barely managing to hold himself against the side of the house. Eddie shrieks, almost falling out of bed.

                “Richie! What the fuck?” He shouts, scrambling to the window and opening it without a second thought. Richie tumbles in, landing directly on his face.

                “Shit! That doesn’t feel too good,” Richie says, standing up and holding a hand over his nose. Eddie stares up at him with a face resembling someone who had just drank a large amount of sour milk.

                “What are you doing here, dumbass?” He says, crossing his arms. Richie hisses as he removes his hands from his now slightly red nose. He crinkles it up as if testing if it still works right.

                “ _You’re_ the one that let me in, Eds,” Richie says with a lazy smile as he hunkers down on Eddie’s bed. Eddie fusses around him and makes sure his room looks as clean as possible. “Nice place you have here,” Richie remarks as he looks around at Eddie’s spotless room, “kind of messy though.” Eddie rolls his eyes and jabs Richie lightly in the side as he takes a seat next to him. A couple moments of calm silence pass between the two.

                “Seriously, Richie, what are you doing here?” Eddie asks softly as he stares at the side of Richie’s face. His clothes are muddy and torn from climbing up to Eddie’s window. “Jesus, Rich, your clothes!” Eddie says as he pokes his index finger into a hole by Richie’s collarbone. Richie looks down at it and shrugs sheepishly.

                “I dunno. You weren’t at lunch, and the other kid said…” Richie stops for a minute, trying to think. “Stan!” He says, giving Eddie a big grin. “Stan said that your mom might have kept you home, and apparently she does it a lot,” he says, turning to face Eddie.

                “Yeah, she does,” Eddie says, looking away from Richie. “Only because I’m sick, though,” Eddie adds quickly. Richie raises an eyebrow but doesn’t comment on Eddie’s defense of his mother.

                “Is she hot?” Richie asks, thrusting his hips up in the air at weird angles. Eddie chokes on his spit as he repeatedly hits Richie in the arm. “Okay! I get it, Christ!” He shrieks, moving away from Eddie with vigor. If only Richie knew that it wasn’t his mentioning of Eddie’s mother that was bugging him. Thank _God_ he doesn’t know what has been on Eddie’s mind lately.

                “You’re the fucking worst, Richie,” Eddie snaps, scooting away from him. He pulls his knees up to his chin and sighs shakily. Richie looks over to him with a nervous smile.

                “Wanna get out of here?” Richie asks, standing up from the bed. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out the keys to his truck.  Eddie looks up with excitement glowing in his eyes and nearly sobs at the offer.

                “ _God,_ more than anything,” he begs as he leads Richie downstairs and to the front door. He opens it quietly, as if afraid his mother could still hear him, and steps outside quickly. The afternoon sun shines warmly on his face as bird sing from the distant woods.

                “Can’t believe we’re already going on another date,” Richie says lowly as he unlocks the door to his truck. Eddie rolls his eyes as he jumps in- actually _not_ needing Richie’s help this time- and quickly buckles his seatbelt.

                “Yeah, you wish it was a date,” Eddie quips as he waits for Richie to pull out of his drive. Richie pulls out smoothly and drives them down Eddie’s street, taking the path that led to the woods.

                “You know I do, Spaghetti,” Richie says in a weird voice as he drives farther and farther into the forest. Eddie looks as thick shrubbery rapidly passes through the window. He watches as the trees bend and shake in the light breeze with unhidden interest.

                “Where are we going?” He asks softly, eyes still looking fondly at the world around him. The world he was so used to seeing through his bedroom window with a bottle of some medication in his fist. But, now, it was _here_ and surrounding him again; so brightly alive with colors and untold beauty.

                “Just to the quarry. Have you ever been there before?” Richie asks as he makes a right turn down the path. Eddie nods as he finally turns from his position at the window.

                “Only all the time,” he laughs lightly as he watches Richie’s face. “Bill, Stan and I used to go every summer when we were younger.” Richie seems almost sad as his fingers twitch against the wheel. The sadness is only there for less than a second as he throws on another trademark grin.

                “I went down there by myself _all_ the time as a kid to check out the hot babes!” He says, removing one hand from the wheel to grab at his crotch like Michael Jackson.  Eddie gags as Richie quickly parks the truck and opens the door. “Here we are, madam!” He exclaims as he begins trotting over to the cliff that faces the body of water. Eddie quickly gets out of the truck and follows behind him but stops when Richie stalls at edge.

                “What the hell are you doing?” Eddie shrieks as Richie peels off his shirt. He’s definitely thin, but also extremely defined. His slight back muscles move as he stretches his arms over his head. Eddie feels his mouth run dry as he forces himself to focus on the water below.

                “I’m taking a dip, Eds,” Richie says, turning around to face Eddie. The sun lights him up like some sort of ancient Greek statue. His black hair sways whichever way the wind wants it to go. “Coming with me?” He asks, pulling off his jeans in a fluid motion. Eddie screams as he tosses his pants into the bushes with no shame.

                “Holy—what the hell is wrong with you?” Eddie squeaks as he covers his eyes. Richie laughs as he slowly approaches Eddie and takes his hands away from his eyes. Eddie looks up to Richie’s smiling face and feels like he could throw up on him and ruin whatever the fuck was happening.

                “We’re all dudes here, Eds!” Richie says, gesturing to the cliff. “Live a little, yeah?” He asks as he moves away slowly. Eddie doesn’t even register the fact he’s pulling off his shirt until he tosses it onto the ground. He flinches a bit when he thinks of all the gross germs getting on his shirt, but he changes his tune when he sees how _proud_ Richie looks. He doesn’t take his shorts off due to something nagging at the back of his skull-

                _Disgusting. Filthy. Wrong._

-Eddie walks up to the edge of the cliff with Richie and allows his toes to dangle off the edge. He stares down are the clear water, remembering the days where Stan and Bill used to fight over who made the biggest waves. He smiles softly to himself and traces the waves of the water with his finger. He can see Richie watching him fondly out of the corner of his eye, but he doesn’t comment on it. Richie clears his throat, “Whoever’s the last one in the quarry smells like Eddie’s mom’s underwear!” He screams as he jumps from the cliff and falls towards the water. Eddie flips him off as he takes a running start and jumps, too.

                “There’s only two of us, asshole!” He’s yelling as he falls closer, and closer still to the water until he plops in unceremoniously. He feels the chill of the water wrap around his skin as he pushes his face towards the sky. Lungs greedily breathing in air as he treads lightly in the water surrounding him. He watches with a grin as Richie swims towards him.

                “I can’t believe you did it,” he laughs, wrapping his arms around Eddie in a hug. Eddie squirms away after giving Richie no more than a pat on the back. He can’t handle the burning, the sizzling, the red-hot touch of their skin. He feels all at once greasy from head to toe.

                “We need to bring the rest of the Losers down here again,” Eddie says, taking in all the memories stored in this one body of water. Richie watches him with a sad glint in his eyes.

                “Yeah, that would be fucking rad, Eds,” he says as he looks out to the sky. “I’m really glad you let me sneak into your room and bust my face on your floor,” Richie says, eyes unmoving from the clouds above. Eddie huffs softly as he allows their pinkies to brush together- just barely a brush of skin- but it feels so electric through his bones.

                “ _I’m_ really glad you busted your face on my floor,” is all Eddie says back, but his smile reveals his lie. Richie knows this, because in only a short couple of weeks, Richie knows _him_.

                “Wanna go home?” Richie asks, his pinky now curling around Eddie’s. Eddie pretends to ignore that it’s even happening, because it’s easier than admitting to the burning in his lungs. He watches the sky with Richie and smiles at the shapes he sees in the clouds. He allows himself to tug at Richie’s pinky with his own just a bit, maybe even insignificant enough to be considered a slip of his hand, but he can almost _feel_ Richie’s smile. Eddie knows he’s going to be in _so much trouble_ when he goes home. He’s never really gotten in trouble in his life. Should he really start now?

                He just needs to go home and take the punishment on the nose while he still has somewhat of a chance of forgiveness. He needs to-

                “Nah, one more hour won’t hurt anything,” Eddie says, moving away to splash Richie in the face. Richie laughs, their pinkies falling away from each other as he splashes him back. Eddie cackles as Richie hits himself in the face with his own wave. Their laughter echoes into the deepest parts of the woods, Eddie reckons.

                “You’re crazy, Eddie Kaspbrak!” Richie laughs as he wipes water from his eyes. Eddie beams, not caring how his hair is falling into his eyes or how he could get a cold from this. All he cares about is how Richie looks right now. His body shiny with water and golden from the late evening sun.

                So, yeah, call him crazy.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stan asks Eddie some important questions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOOOO BOY OKAY!! so this chapter isnt exactly as 'exciting' as i want it to be, but it's necessary to set up the plot of the next ;) ALSO ive had some people wonder IRL if I'll be exploring the depth of friendship between Richie and Stan, and the answer is of course! This is a very slow burn story, so i'm really taking my time writing these friendships lol. OK that was long, sorry!   
> IF YOU ENJOYED THIS CHAPTER AND WANT TO SEND ME AN ASK, FEEL FREE! <3 honeycombandtea.tumblr.com

                “Hold the fucking phone; you did _what_?” Stan asks incredulously as Eddie slams his locker door shut. Eddie feels his face becoming a little red as he focuses extra attention on zipping up his bag. “Eddie!” Stan hisses, tugging on Eddie’s arm with force. Eddie bites down on his lip hard and shoves his slightly shaking hands into his pockets.

                “I snuck out of my room to go to the quarry,” Eddie says, feeling his heart squeeze his ribs tightly at the thought of that day. It was all so perfect and _right_. Like something from a TV show his mother would force him to sit down and watch with her. _Bonding time with mommy is important, Eddie!_ He shakes his head and returns his focus back to the shocked expression his best friend was wearing.

                “You’ve never snuck out in your _life_.” Stan says, patting down Eddie’s shoulders. “Are you really Eddie Kaspbrak?” Eddie chuckles a little as he pulls away from Stan and holds out his arms defensively. “I should never have told that idiot you were staying home,” Stan mumbles as he runs his hands through his curls. Eddie shakes his head and smiles genuinely at Stan.

                “Don’t be like that, Stan,” Eddie says, reassuring him with a pat on the shoulder, “I really needed that. Richie is a good friend to me.” Stan raises an eyebrow in disbelief.

                “Right, okay,” Stan says, pinching the bridge of his nose, “so you’re telling me you snuck out with a guy you’ve known for a couple of weeks…but not Bill and I.” Eddie cringes and feels his cheeks flush with shame.

                “Well—It’s just different,” Eddie mumbles as he moves his foot in a circular motion. Stan isn’t having it as he scoffs quietly. People are swarming around them to get to their classes, but the two boys aren’t in a hurry. Eddie swears he could cut the tension between them with a butter knife.

                “It’s different,” Stan repeats dully as he stares at Eddie. Eddie looks up from his shoes and looks Stan in the eye for the first time in a solid minute. A feeling of mutual understanding seems to pass through their glance. “I think I get it,” Stan whispers, looking around them to make sure no one could see. “It’s like how I feel about Big Ben, right?” He asks, curls hanging into his eyes.

                Eddie laughs at the mention of the nickname, but instantly regrets it when he sees how serious Stan looks. Big Ben was a nickname Eddie had come up with the first time Stan spilled the beans about his feelings concerning a certain stuttering giant. As much as Eddie had prided himself on the nickname when they were thirteen, it never really stuck.

 This is the first time Stan was saying that nickname in years. Eddie now finds himself laughing again, but it’s more of a nervous half-chuckle. “I’m not gay, Stan,” Eddie whispers harshly as he almost backs up into a random girl. She shoots him a dirty look as she walks away quickly. Stan looks to be panicking as he moves closer to Eddie and lightly grabs his wrist.

                “Don’t say the _‘g’_ word in the hallways, Eddie,” he whispers fervently, shifting eyes looking at the people surrounding the two of them. “If someone even _thinks_ they heard us talking about being gay, or the word in general, we’re _dead_ ,” Stan says as he drops Eddie’s wrist. Eddie feels the gravity of the situation settle into his chest. He swallows thickly.

                “Right,” Eddie says while chewing on his bottom lip, “I don't like Richie like that.” Stan nods. There seems to be some hesitation as he does so, but Eddie doesn’t comment on it. He’s sure that his morning doesn’t need any more unnecessary drama in it, thank _you very much_. He decides to leave the conversation there as he begins to move towards his classroom with Stan following behind. He wraps his hand around the doorknob and begins to pull when a loud familiar voice booms from behind him.

                “Spaghetti!” Richie calls as he wraps his arms firmly around Eddie’s shoulders. Eddie feels a burn sizzle his flesh through his clothes as he rips himself free of the touch. He stares up at Richie, trying to ignore the fuzz growing in his brain:

                _Gross. Wrong. Fairy. Girly Boy._

“Don’t call me that, Richie!” Eddie huffs as he opens the door with force than should be used and makes his way to his desk. His mind is still reeling with disgust as he does his best to ignore the buzz in his body as Richie sits beside him. Eddie looks over to him for a moment and watches as he dutifully unpacks his binder. “You’re sitting here again?” He asks, rolling his eyes.

                “What?” Richie asks, bumping his shoulder against Eddie’s. “Do you not want me to?” His eyes meet Eddie’s only for a second, but it’s long enough to make his logical side take a hike.

“Stay,” is all Eddie says as he pulls out his homework. Richie raises an eyebrow and points to his unfinished paper. Eddie crinkles his nose up as he covers his answers from Richie’s prying gaze.

“Come on, Eds! Help a brother out,” Richie whines, hands reaching for the paper. Eddie shakes his head and scoots it away. Richie groans, and Eddie almost gives him the answers right then and there, goddammit. The sound was just so…so…

Eddie shakes his head harder than needed. “No, asshole! Helping is one thing, but I’m not about to give you the answers.” Richie sulks as he puffs out his cheeks.  Eddie glances to the front of the class and watches as the teacher continues to sort out assignments for the day. He quickly glances back to Richie and hands him the paper while making a sour expression.

                “Oh my god, “Richie gasps, snatching the paper up like it was worth millions, “I love you, Eddie Kaspbrak!” Eddie feels his eyes widening as he stares dumbly at Richie. He’s scribbling down answers like a madman, but it looks different to Eddie. Maybe it was the way he actually styled his curls for once, or maybe how his cologne smells even more powerful than normal. He feels sick as he actually _fucking counts_ the freckles on his nose and admires the plumpness of his bottom lip.

                “Fuck off,” he mutters, twisting away to look out the window, “I’m just concerned you won’t graduate.” Richie huffs as he hands Eddie his paper back. Eddie watches as the teacher begins to go around and collect the worksheets, but Richie doesn’t see her.

                “I’ll just suck the principal off,” Richie says, eyebrows wiggling. Eddie looks mortified as their teacher stops right behind Richie. He twists around in his desk nervously and makes direct eye contact with her. “Heyyyy, Mrs. Carnegie,” Richie says, blowing a random curl out of his eye.  She doesn’t look impressed as she scribbles something down on her clipboard. “Whatcha writing, beautiful?” Richie asks as he tries to peer from his chair.

                “Another detention slip, Mr. Tozier,” She says tightly as she slaps it on his desk. Richie picks it up and looks at it for a split second before shrugging and tossing it in his backpack. She walks up to the front of the classroom and takes her seat with a loud sigh.

                “You’re impossible, Jesus Christ,” Eddie whispers as he looks between Richie and his teacher. Richie has a big grin on his face as he laughs into his sleeve. “What the hell are you laughing about?” Eddie asks as he raises an eyebrow.

                “Totally worth it,” Richie says between bursts of laughter. Eddie feels something akin to fondness burn brightly in his chest.

* * *

 

                   “I can’t believe this. I fucking hate you!” Eddie says as he sticks his tongue out at Richie from across the table. Stan rolls his eyes but doesn’t put his book down to comment.

“What?” Richie asks, putting down his carton of milk. “I _thought_ you wanted the others to know about the quarry!” He says, arms going up defensively. Mike is giving them both a measured look, probably trying to see when he should step in and break it up. Beverly is watching Richie like a disappointed mother as she shares a knowing look with Mike.

“Yeah, I did!” Eddie says, arms crossing. “I didn’t tell you to say I thought your body was better than Keanu Reeves!” Ben laughs loudly and covers his face with his hands, but he quickly stops his giggles when Eddie sends him a withering look.

“Yeah, well, I took some creative liberties, sue me!” Richie says, trying to fight the laughter bubbling up in his voice. Eddie bites down on his lip hard and tries to avoid laughing, too.

“You’re impossible,” Eddie says as he takes the last bite of a chocolate bar Stan supplied him with.  Everyone in the table nods in agreement, much to Richie’s befuddlement. “Told ya,” Eddie says simply.

“Impossibly hot,” Richie quips back, raising his eyebrows towards Mike. “Right, Mike?” Mike shakes his head and looks away,

                “Yeah, I’m not touching that conversation,” he says with a shudder. Richie gasps loudly as the rest of the Losers laugh.

                “Okay, guys, lets give Richie a break,” Beverly says, still sort of laughing anyway. Richie supplies her with an appreciative smile and clears his throat loudly. Stan rolls his eyes again from behind his book. Eddie watches as he glances at Bill from time to time before going back to ‘reading’.

“Here we go,” Stan says, putting his book down with a soft thud. “Trashmouth has something _else_ to say,” he mutters as he looks around at the other Losers. “Who wants to bet what he’s going to say is stupid.” Everyone raises their hands as if on cue, which causes Richie to puff his cheeks out in annoyance. Eddie feels a twinge of guilt manifest in his chest.

                “Okay, lets hear him out,” Eddie says, face tinting pink when Richie gives him a big smile. He reaches over the table and lightly pats Eddie’s head, and Eddie finds himself not even reprimanding him.

                “Let’s go down to the quarry tonight,” he says, pulling out goggles and swimming gear from his backpack, “all of us!”

                “Never mind, it turned out to be stupid,” Eddie says to their friends, rolling his eyes. He ignores the puppy eyes Richie is giving him. “Do you know how dumb that is? We could all get super fucking sick, and I don’t need to miss any more school.” Bill nods in agreement as he cranes his neck over the table to look at Richie.

                “P-p-plus, I’m hanging w-w-with Stan tonight,” Bill says, eyes flicking over to Stan with a big smile. Stan flushes and nearly drops his book onto the floor. Eddie winks at Stan as discreetly as possible.

                “Fuck off,” Stan hisses as he lightly kicks Eddie under the table. Eddie shrugs in response. Beverly smiles mischievously at Richie for a split second before whispering something in Mike’s ear.

                “I can’t go, either,” Mike says, taking a drink from his milk. “I have…stuff…to do on the farm.” Eddie raises an eyebrow in suspicion.

                “I guess I could go,” Ben offers, smiling kindly at Richie. Richie beams as he blows kisses in Ben’s direction. Beverly shoots Ben a look and all at once Ben backs down. “Actually, sorry Rich,” Ben says, cheeks flushing, “Bev and I have a date tonight.” Beverly winks at Richie as she grabs hold of Ben’s larger hand and holds it.

                “Get a room,” Richie says, sticking his tongue out. He looks around at the table before putting his goggles and swim stuff away. “Guess you guys aren’t just losers, but chickens, too!” He squawks, miming a chicken flapping its wings. Beverly shrugs as she gives Eddie a pointed glance.

                “Eddie isn’t doing anything,” she says simply. “Why don’t you two just go _alone_?” Eddie sputters as his cheeks become an embarrassingly red shade. Richie doesn’t seem too opposed to the idea as a smirk slowly appears on his lips.

                “Fuck—what—No!”Eddie squeaks, shaking his head. “It’ll be dark, and there’s probably going to be mosquitoes and _THOSE_ things carry some nasty diseases and—”

                “I’ll be there to get you around nine tonight, Eds,” Richie says with a grin as the bell rings. Beverly looks extremely pleased with herself as she and Richie take off to smoke behind the school. Stan walks up to Eddie and pats him sympathetically on the back. Eddie jumps at the contact and spins around to face the slightly taller boy.

                “Are you going to go?” Stan asks, his mouth cemented in a straight line. Eddie feels a little nervous- kind of like he’s being interrogated.

                “Wha—no! I mean, I don’t know,” Eddie says, groaning into his hand. Stan sighs loudly.

                “Just be careful, alright?” Stan asks, concern edging into his voice. “You’re my best friend, Eddie, I don’t want you to get hurt.” Eddie laughs as he crosses his arms defiantly. Eddie may be extremely short for a seventeen-year-old, but on God’s word, his personality makes up for it.

                “I won’t get hurt, Stan! I told you, I’m _not like that_ ,” Eddie says. Stan nods his head slowly but says no more as he and Bill leave the cafeteria. He watches as Stan smiles up at Bill warmly and feels something switch drastically inside of him. He remembers the way _he_ smiles at Richie and wonders, just for a second, if it looks the same way. Eddie is left standing there, head reeling from one single _disastrous_ thought:

                                _I’m not gay, right?_


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie and Richie spend some time at the quarry again
> 
> come visit me at honeycombandtea.tumblr.com :)

Eddie is pacing back and forth by his window as he waits for Richie to pull up to the drive. He spent most of his night debating if he should call up Richie and tell him that he got suddenly sick or broke his big toe or shaved an eyebrow off. But, of course, he doesn’t do any of that at all, since a big part of him really wants to do this with Richie.

 He loves the moments they share alone together, whether it be in a diner, the quarry, or banter in math class. He grips his hand tightly around his shirt and sits on the edge of his bed.   
What did all these feelings mean, exactly? Richie is definitely not the first guy Eddie could call a best friend, or even a good friend at that. Even still, the thought of hanging around with him makes him feel like he’s giddy or something. Maybe he’s just really fucking lost it after seventeen years of being single.

  He stoops down and unzips the small bag he’s brought with him and makes sure for the fourth time everything is in its place. He’s bringing bug repellent, band aids, two sets of dry clothes, (because God knows Richie probably didn’t bring a pair), and a granola bar for a snack. He zips the bag back up and hastily puts it around his shoulders as he sees the headlights of a truck slowly pull up a couple of houses away from Eddie’s. 

Their genius plan was to make sure Richie didn’t directly park in front of his house, just so Sonia didn’t think anything abnormal was going on. God knows if she does find out about this there will be absolute hell to pay. He slides open his window with one hand and wraps his legs tightly around the drain pipe, scooting down inch by inch. He nearly falls off when he hears Richie shouting from the grass below.

“I’ll catch you if you fall, Eds, you maniac!” Richie screams, causing Eddie to feel panic lick his veins like a flame. He looks up to his mother’s window to see if any lights were flicking on. Thankfully, the room is still as dark as it was when his mother told him goodnight. He holds on tightly to the pipe and spares a moment to flip Richie off.  


“You dumbass,” Eddie hisses as he slides down the rest of the pipe, “you could have gotten me killed!” He puffs out his cheeks at Richie and shoves his bag into his chest. Richie stumbles back a few steps before giving Eddie a sympathetic smile. 

“Sorry, Eds,” Richie says as he slings Eddie’s bag around his shoulders, “I’m just really excited for tonight.” Eddie sighs as he follows closely behind Richie and allows him to open his door. “In you go, short-stack!” Richie says happily as he closes the door behind Eddie. Richie slides into the driver's seat with ease and turns the key.

“Don’t call me ‘short-stack’, bean pole!” Eddie hisses as he punches Richie playfully in the shoulder. Richie makes a sound close to a fucking _giggle_ as he makes his way to the path leading to the woods. “You’re such a toddler, Rich,” Eddie remarks as he watches the dark sky as it twinkles with distant stars. He puts a finger on Richie’s window and connects the dots.

“Oh, I’m the child?” Richie asks, looking away from the road for just a split second. “You’re the one playing interstellar connect the dots!” Richie exclaims as he gives Eddie a toothy grin. Eddie rolls his eyes and puts his hand back down on his lap.

“Did you bring an extra pair of clothes?” Eddie asks, eyeing the bag in the backseat. Richie flushes slightly and clears his throat. “You didn’t, did you.” Eddie says, a knowing smile growing on his face. Richie mumbles a swear as he pulls off near the cliff.

“Yeah, I didn’t bring any,” Richie says as he takes the key out of the truck. Eddie smirks as he grabs up his bag and unzips it, revealing the extra shirt and shorts. Richie makes a sound of delight as he snatches the clothes up.

“You owe me!” Eddie chides as he steps out and almost immediately takes a shower in bug spray. Richie raises an eyebrow when Eddie offers the can. “What? Do you _want_ to get bit?” Eddie asks, still holding the can out towards Richie. He sighs begrudgingly and takes it from Eddie’s hand. He half-heartedly sprays down his arms and legs.

“Real men ain’t ‘fraid of no diseases,” Richie says in a southern drawl as he takes his shirt off. Eddie feels his heart pounding against his ribs again, but he doesn’t look away. He bites down hard on his bottom lip as Richie shrugs his jeans off and discards them into the bushes like the time before. It all feels so much more intimate in the nighttime. _Too intimate for Eddie._

_Bad. Disgusting. You’re going to hell._

Eddie shrugs off his shirt and once again leaves on his light shorts. He trots up behind Richie as they look out onto the water below. The water, though usually crystal in color, is a dark black thanks to the sky. Eddie thinks for a moment that it looks like ink, or maybe tar. He watches dark waves lap over one another time and time again.

              “You comin’ Eds?” Richie asks, moving back to get a running start. Eddie gulps as he tries to look away from the intimidating blackness of it. Richie quirks up an eyebrow and walks back to the edge. “Hey, you okay?” He asks, but this time it’s quieter. Gentle, even. Eddie lets himself be vulnerable for just a moment.

              “The dark scares me,” he breathes out, eyes still looking to the waves. Richie smiles reassuringly and sticks out his bigger hand. Eddie watches it for a moment and takes in the lines and grooves. Something purely Richie. “What?” He asks, chuckling slightly as he continues to look at the hand outstretched before him.

              “You can hold my hand, Eddie,” Richie says with a smile as he wiggles his fingers. Eddie feels his palms soaking with sweat as he rakes them up and down his shorts. He slowly outstretches his fingers, just barely touching Richie’s palm:

              _What the fuck? Stop. You’re sick, Eddie. You’ve always been sick._

Eddie wraps his fingers around Richie’s and squeezes so tightly. Richie smiles as he backs up and begins to run towards the moon hanging high above them. “We fall together, Eds!” Richie laughs as they launch themselves from the cliff and plummet to the cool waves below. Eddie watches Richie scrunching his face up as they get closer to the water and feels a revelation strike him. It’s colder than the water that hugs tightly to his skin as his feet brush against the weeds.

                              _We fall together, Eds_

Eddie emerges from the water laughing and splashing around as he searches for Richie. The silent waves are his only reply as his eyes strain in the blackness. His heart spikes with anxiety as he splashes harder.

              “Rich?” Eddie asks, eyes peering out to the abyss of black. “Richie!” Eddie calls, eyes widening to impossibly large discs. Richie emerges from the water a couple of seconds later, his cheeks visibly red even in the darkness.

              “My foot got caught on fucking weeds,” Richie says breathlessly. Eddie takes a shaking breath in as he runs his hand through his hair.

              “Don’t ever fucking scare me like that again,” Eddie mutters through clenched teeth. Richie looks up at him just as the moon lights up his face. He watches as water drips down his red lips and falls freely from his black hair.

              “Sorry, Eds,” Richie breathes. Eddie shakes his head as he begins to lightly tread water. Richie follows him and the two ends up just relaxing for fifteen minutes or so. Eddie watches the stars as they twinkle and finds himself thinking of the look in Stan’s eyes when he sees Bill.

              “Must be hard,” Eddie mumbles to himself as he wriggles his toes in the water. “Loving someone who doesn’t love you,” he finishes, a sad smile working onto his face. Richie stills in the water beside him.

              “Yeah, must be,” he says as he turns to look somewhere else. “Not for me, though! I can’t keep the girls away.” Richie says, head still looking somewhere in the distance. Eddie puts a hand on the taller boy’s shoulder.

              “You okay, Richie?” Eddie asks quietly, but Richie shakes it off. He swims out a little way closer to the shore and steps onto the grass. “Rich, what the hell?” Eddie asks quietly. Richie picks up a shirt and rubs it over his face.

              “Got somethin’ in my eye,” he mumbles, his face still in the shirt. Eddie nods slowly even though Richie can’t see him. He turns back to face Eddie with a big smile and moves backwards as if readying a cannon ball, but then:

              “Well, if it isn’t half and half,” a gruff voice mutters from the forest. Richie turns around as his face turns a ghostly white. Eddie muffles a shriek of terror from the quarry, but doesn’t dare to open his mouth to fully let the sound out. Henry Bowers is leaning up against a tree with his switchblade in hand. Richie plucks up a strong outer appearance and laughs loudly.

              “Half and half? Good one, Bowers, describing me like I’m fucking milk,” he says, flipping off Henry. Henry smirks and his teeth glint a disturbingly bright white in the night. Eddie watches as Henry finally looks out to the quarry.

              “Oh my fuckin’ god,” he says, eyes crinkling up from fits of hysterical laughter. “You brought _girly boy_ down here,” he says as he spits on the grass. Richie clenches his hand up into a tight fist. “What? Is he your girlfriend now?” Bowers asks, eyes never leaving Eddie.  Richie steps in front of Henry and puffs his chest out as best as he can.

              “Fuck off, you mullet wearing asshole! This is between you and me,” Richie sends a look towards the water, “not him.” Henry shrugs as he easily punches Richie right in the face, causing his glasses to fall off with a snap. Eddie screams as Richie tumbles backwards and nearly falls into the grass. Richie gets up quick enough to land a good hit on the side of Henry’s face, which causes him to groan in pain.

              “You four-eyed fucker!” He hisses, hand covering the split in his cheek. Richie grins despite his lip bleeding profusely. He dodges the next swing from Bowers, but he doesn’t dodge the swift kick to his stomach. Richie gasps and vomits onto the grass as he tumbles down. Henry grabs him by his hair and pulls him up to face him-

              then he spits directly into his face.

Richie writhes to get away, but Henry is stronger out of the two. Eddie is unable to move despite everything in his brain begging him _to please fucking move please fucking save him PLEASE-_

              “Get the fuck out of here, Eddie!” Richie screams as Bowers lifts him from the ground and dangles him like a doll. Eddie watches as Bowers looks to him with a sadistic, insane smile.  He feels something inside of him snap as he sees the glint of the switchblade getting closer and closer to Richie. Eddie reaches down deep into the water and pulls out the biggest stone he can wrap his fingers around. He hurls it at Bowers and hits him square in the forehead, making him drop Richie and fall to the grass. Blood is pouring from his face as Eddie finds himself finally able to move.

              He rushes out of the water and pulls Richie up as fast as he can. However, Richie can’t stand straight, so Eddie wraps his arms around him. They start to run as fast as possible towards the truck, but Bowers outsmarts them.

              “Belch, Patrick, you useless shits!” He screams to the woods, a vein popping from his neck. “Kill them!” With that screech, Patrick and Belch emerge from the trees and sprint towards the two boys.  Eddie is breathing heavily as he tries to support Richie and himself, but he realizes this isn’t going to last. The truck is just mere feet away, so Eddie thinks up his craziest idea yet.

              “I’m gonna drive your fucking truck,” Eddie says breathlessly as he pumps his arms like a madman. Richie is too out of it to form proper words, but Eddie can hear the beginnings of a ‘what the fuck’. Eddie rips open the passenger door and tosses Richie in -he’d definitely apologize for that later- then he crawls to the driver side and sticks the keys in. Eddie feels fear grip him as he sees the three boys almost upon them, and it far outweighs his anxiety about never driving a car before. He quickly shifts to the gas and speeds off, nearly hitting two trees in the process, and makes it to the path with moments to spare. He speeds all the way to his house and parks down the street. He looks over to Richie, who is currently barely conscious , and then back to his house wearily.

              He turns the car off and slides out into the chilly fall air. He walks around and grabs Richie, barely strong enough to hold onto him, and quietly as possible, enters his back door. Thankfully for Eddie, his mom sleeps like a log and wouldn’t hear him struggling to lift Richie up the stairs. He tucks Richie into his bed and makes a wall of pillows between the two as he settles his sore body into the mattress. He peeks over the wall to watch as Richie looks up at him with bloodshot eyes.

              “Did I win?” He asks, drying blood on his lip straining with a smile. Eddie nods his head with a sigh.

              “You won, Richie,” he lies easily. Richie looks so proud of himself as he closes his eyes again. Eddie watches him until he, too, feels exhaustion tug at his eyelids.

              “Eds?” Richie mumbles. Eddie hums in response, eyes barely flicking open. “We fall together,” Richie says to the pillows separating them. Eddie nods.

                              _We fall together._

 


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie makes some "questionable" decisions 
> 
> hi!! if you enjoy my fic and want to visit me on tumblr, it's honeycombandtea.tumblr.com! thanks so much for reading .

                Eddie rolls over and hums as he nuzzles into something warm and soft. He moves his hands blindly as he pats the object sloppily. He gently runs his fingers over what he thinks is just a very large pillow, but then:

                “Eds?” A voice being muffled from his hand says. “Eds, are you okay?” Richie asks as Eddie opens his eyes. Eddie scrambles back and blinks up at Richie -still half asleep- as he tries to process everything. Richie’s face is decorated in bruises, but the most prominent is under his left eye. His lip still has drying blood on the corner, and his eyes are bloodshot- they look heavy.

                “Jesus,” Eddie says softly as he touches the skin under his own eye, “you look awful, Richie.” Richie smiles dumbly and flops over on his back. Eddie watches the soft rise and fall of his chest with something like adoration. Friendly adoration, maybe.

                “You should see the other guy,” Richie says with a chuckle as he glances over to Eddie. A large piece of black hair falls into his eye. Eddie resists the urge to tuck it back away from his face and settles on rolling his eyes.

                “I did. He looked fine,” Eddie says. Richie pouts as he starts to run his hand through his hair, but he stops with a wince. Eddie raises a brow and peeks over to see a small cut he didn’t notice in the frenzy of last night. Before Eddie even knew it, he was getting up and retrieving his first aid kit from the side of his bed. He plops it on the bed softly and motions for Richie to put his head on Eddie’s lap. “Come over here, dumbass,” Eddie says playfully as he pats his legs.

                Richie wolf whistles as he does his best to scoot over and follow Eddie’s directions. Eddie feels the soft pressure of Richie laying down on his lap and watches as he looks up at him. Richie laughs lowly, causing Eddie to flush. “What the fuck is so funny?” Eddie snaps as he opens the kit up, anything to look away from Richie really, and grabs some bandages.

                “Can’t see you without my glasses,” Richie says as Eddie unwraps some white bandages for his head. He grabs some rubbing alcohol and dabs just a bit onto a cotton round.

                “Yeah. Well, your glasses are kind of broken,” Eddie says as he gently starts to clean the wound. Richie hisses audibly but he doesn’t seem to be in too much pain. Eddie scrunches his mouth up as he focuses on cleaning it well. “Uh,” he says, cotton round still in hand. “You might need stitches for this, Rich.”

                “Nothin’ a little tape can’t fix, Eds,” Richie says with a sigh as he leans back into Eddie. Eddie rolls his eyes and gives a tiny shove to Richie’s shoulder. “And if it needs stitches, I’ll just have to die, I guess,” Richie says to himself as Eddie places a big bandage over the cut. Eddie reaches down to smack him lightly on the knee.

                “First of all, you’d look fucking ridiculous,” Eddie rants, finishing up the cleaning process. “Second of all, don’t joke about that shit!” He hisses as he moves back slightly to admire his handywork. The bandage makes Richie’s hair stick up at weird angles, but other than that, he thinks he did a damn good job. Eddie notices out of the corner of his eye that the pillow wall he built last night was crushed on top of the mattress. He fights the blush that tries to color his cheeks.

                “What?” Richie asks as he slowly scoots back from Eddie. “You worrying I’ll die before you?” Eddie fumes as he smacks Richie in the arm and scoots back to the edge of the bed. Richie looks over to him dumbly.

                “Not everything is a fucking joke, Richie!” Eddie says loudly, not really giving a fuck if Sonia was hearing him. Eddie can almost see his father in the house for the split-second he allows his eyes to close, and as soon as he opens them he feels a hand constricting his lungs.  He wheezes as he grabs his shirt in a balled-up fist. Richie is there beside him immediately and holding him so tightly in his arms Eddie worries it’ll leave a bruise. Richie isn’t asking him to explain himself like his mom or the therapists or the doctors-

                he’s just here for him. Eddie finds himself hoping he always will be. But he knows it’s not true, because good things and Eddie Kaspbrak mix as well as oil and water. It’s only a matter of…

                “It’s only a matter of time before my mom comes up here,” Eddie says breathlessly as he pulls out of Richie’s arms. Richie looks back at him, his arms still out for an empty embrace until he clunkily pulls them back to his sides. He nods as he bites down on his still bloody bottom lip.

                “I can probably drive home,” Richie says as he stands up. Eddie listens as his bones pop and cringes as Richie hisses in obvious discomfort. Eddie jumps up from the bed and follows closely behind him as Richie makes his way to the window. As soon as he’s slipping his shoes on Eddie grabs his arm and pulls him to look at him. “What’s up, Spaghetti?” Richie laughs nervously, one hand on the window. Eddie tries to just focus on the way Richie’s hair looks in this lighting, and God, he wishes he could draw it. He wishes he could put pen to paper and make up all the lines of his crazy hair. Eddie reaches up and up until his fingers are touching the corner of Richie’s mouth.

                “You got blood here still,” Eddie says as he moves his finger, “that’s really unsanitary.” Richie laughs shakily and places his hand over Eddie’s slowly - as if unsure- but Eddie doesn’t stop him.

                “That’s what I told your mom when I— “

Eddie doesn’t let him finish that sentence as he crashes their lips together. He tastes the metallic tang of the blood, the cool air seeping in from the crack of his window, but most importantly, he tastes _Richie._ He tastes warm summer nights and red-cheeked laughter in the winter and the feeling of falling off cliffs into a cold, watery embrace below. Richie kisses back almost immediately and wraps his thin arms around Eddie’s waist. Eddie nips at that pillow-like bottom lip, and sighs as he finally can pull on it just a little with his teeth. He relishes in the groan from somewhere deep in Richie’s throat as he pulls away.

                Richie stares up at him with his mouth still puckering outwards and his eyes half shut. Eddie already knows he must look like a fucking wreck as he steps back with shaking legs. He screws his eyes shut as if it’ll stop the leakage, _the toxins_ , from pouring into his brain:

                _God, you’re sick. Look what you’ve done! You’ve tainted him, Eddie. Ruined him **ruined him ruined him ruined him**_

                “Eds,” Richie says softly, hand reaching for him. Eddie shakes his head and steps away again, creating even more distance between the two. His eyes widen as he begins to hear some stirring coming from his mother’s bedroom.

                “Get out,” Eddie says quietly as he clenches and unclenches his fist. Richie’s face is furrowing in unhidden sorrow as he begins to unlatch the window- fingers trembling.

                “Eddie, please, I--- “

Eddie shakes his head and digs his fingernails harshly into his scalp. He feels the utter _wrongness;_ and _God, what would mommy do if she finds out?_ He can’t let that happen to him. Eddie Kaspbrak may be a sinking ship, but he’s not taking Richie with him. He refuses to. Not Richie with his beat-up truck and smiling eyes and chipped nail polish.

                “ _Go_!” He says louder than he wants to, but it gets the point across. Richie scrambles out of the window and lands into the yard. Eddie watches with tears in his eyes as Richie sprints as best as he can with a hurt leg and throws himself into his truck. He looks away when he hears the machine groan to life and speed out of his neighborhood.  Sonia runs into his room moments later with a look of distress upon her face. Eddie slides down the fall and stares at her- readying himself.

                “What happened, Eddie-Bear?” She shrieks as she runs over to where Eddie currently is slumping over. She bends down as best as she can and sticks a big hand over his forehead. “You’re burning up,” she says as she tugs on Eddie’s arm harshly and leads him to his bed. Eddie falls against the mattress like a ragdoll.

                “I’m not sick,” he says quietly, his voice thick with some suppressed emotion. Sonia clicks her tongue as she leans back away from him, the smell of her perfume wafting hard in Eddie’s face.

                “I heard you talking to someone, Eddie,” she says tightly, her mouth forming into a hard line. She begins to pace an even line in the center of Eddie’s room while mumbling into her quivering hands. “I’m worried about you, Eddie, so worried,” she mumbles, eyes looking over to Eddie. He quivers on the bed as he fights back the tears threatening to break his barriers and spill into existence.

                “Mom, please, I’m really— “

     Sonia shakes her head quickly and drops her hands with confidence. “No, I understand Eddie,” she says, looking him directly in his eyes, “this has all started since you wanted to stop coming to church.” Eddie feels his heart sink painfully in his chest and land somewhere in his stomach. Church makes him feel itchy from underneath his skin, but he can never really scratch it right. Being in church, even just mindlessly sitting in the pews, always gives him a feeling of burning in hell. He digs hard at his arm with shaking fingers, but Sonia doesn’t notice. “This Sunday, Eddie,” she says, making her way towards his door, “you’re coming with me.” She shuts the door firmly behind her and leaves Eddie with no more barriers to protect him.

                He cries openly into his hands.

* * *

 

                Eddie avoids Richie like the plague the next day. He’s dimly aware that he should be excited that it’s Friday, but it only makes a sense of dread creep slowly up his neck. Eddie sighs lowly as he opens his locker and shoves his books in carelessly. He stares at his reflection in the mirror and raises his hand to his lips for just a second. It’s almost as if he can feel it, right there under the surface, but it seems like years ago. How warm his lips were and how cold Eddie felt as soon as he was gone. He shuts his locker with a slam and yelps when he sees Stan standing there.

                “Jesus!” Eddie shrieks, stepping back. “How long have you been there?” Stan shrugs as he looks down at his watch.

                “Long enough to know you’re upset,” he says, giving Eddie a hesitant smile. Eddie looks back at him blankly as he curls his fingers around his sweater. “Listen, Richie and I were talking and—”

                Eddie bites down on his bottom lip. “Since when were you and Richie such good friends?” He asks, fingers turning into a fist around his sweater. Stan laughs humorlessly as he crosses his arms.

                “You’re kidding me, right? Do you not know how obvious you are?” Stan asks as the bell rings over their heads. Neither one of them are moving as they stare each other down. “I’ve been ‘good friends’ with Richie since I found him in the bathroom sobbing this morning,” Stan says, eyes taking on a dark look. Eddie feels his heart hit his stomach and crumble on the way down. He can feel his bottom lip trembling as he looks away.

                _It’s your fault, you know?_

“I don’t know what to say,” Eddie admits, tears starting to collect in the corners of his eyes. Stan reaches out and puts a gentle hand on Eddie’s shoulder.

                “I just want to know what the hell is going on, Eddie,” Stan says, eyes surprisingly gentle as they gaze upon Eddie. Eddie feels his mind slowly break as the first tear reluctantly spills from his eyes, many more following. “Listen, why don’t you try and talk to Bev? If anyone knows how Richie is feeling inside and out, it’s her,” Stan says with a smile as he steps back from Eddie. Eddie nods and rubs at his eyes with the back of his hand.

                “Where is she?” Eddie asks, deciding this was worth ditching class for. Stan gives Eddie a knowing look and shrugs.

                “Where she always is,” he says as he waves Eddie a small goodbye. Eddie turns away from his first period classroom and marches out to the back of the school, praying to some unknown force she’ll still be out there. He slowly opens the glass door, looking around to check for any teachers, and lets out a small sigh of relief when he sees none. Eddie feels something crunch under his feet and looks down to see a pack of cigarettes. He picks it up slowly and holds it up to the light, noticing how it still has a couple of cigarettes left. Raising an eyebrow, he slowly turns his head to look for Beverly, but he doesn’t see her anywhere. He feels his eyes widening and cool sweat cover his palms as he observes a very familiar red truck by the edge of the school. _Is he out here?_ _Where is he?_ Just then, he hears her voice shouting nonsense by the basketball court and runs faster than he ever has before. Something deep inside of him tells him he should be very, very worried.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie tries to find Richie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO FRIENDS! :) i really hope this is the dramatic chapter you were hoping for! no spoilers, but I worked hard on it.   
> come visit me at honeycombandtea.tumblr.com ! id love to hear from you

When Eddie gets to her, Beverly is breathing so heavily that he’s seriously worrying she’ll have a panic attack. The cold air feels even chillier as he catches the last seconds of someone tall climbing into that red truck and zooming off away from the school. Eddie sprints over to her, grabs her up securely in his arms until she can manage to calm her gulping breaths, and moves away from her gently. Her cheeks are a bright red that matches her bitten lips well. She stares up at him, mouth open and closing rapidly.

                “Eddie—Richie---I told him—Fuck!” She hisses, her hand smacking on her thigh. The noise reverberates and settles in Eddie’s skull as he looks at her in confusion. She moves back from him and collapses like a tower of cards onto the pavement. Eddie immediately sits beside her and draws up her hand into his.

                “Was that Richie?” He asks urgently, eyes wide and heart in his throat. “What the hell is happening, Bev?” He continues, eyes flicking from her face back to the empty spot the truck was sitting at moments before. She shakes her head and her bangs fall loosely into her crystalline eyes.

                “It’s just—He came out here and was _sobbing,_ Eddie, and I couldn’t do anything,” she rambles, lips quivering as she presses her knees to her chest. “I’ve known Richie _for years and I couldn’t do anything!_ ” She cries as her fingers wrap around his hand tightly. Eddie feels panic spike into his blood as he stares dumbly at the girl before him.

                “Did he say anything?” He asks, cupping her face and looking kindly into those frantic eyes. She slows down her breathing as she looks at him, though tears still silently fall from her eyes.

                “It was….” She bites down on her lip as she recalls. “I don’t know, it all happened so fast. I think he said something about finding Bowers?” She says, though there was a definite unsure quality underneath her words. Eddie knows right away that this means serious fucking trouble. He scrambles up from the pavement with his hand clutching tightly at his chest. She comes up after him and reaches out for him; Eddie allows her to wrap a hand around his clammy wrist.

                “Oh my God it’s my fucking fault,” he whispers brokenly. He can’t look at her, even as she desperately tugs at his wrist. “He’s fucking doing this to _prove_ something, that idiot!” He yells, breaking away from her touch and digging his hands into his hair. Beverly stands still, hand in the air like it was the first time she moved to touch him at the cinema, her cheeks still wet with tear tracks.

                “Your fault?” She asks, placing her hands to her side. “Why would it be your fault, Eddie?” Her voice sounds so fragile. Eddie understands at that moment how much love she has for Richie.

~~(he also understands how much he fucking loves him, too)~~

Eddie looks around until he spots his beaten-up bike hanging limply by the bike rack. He runs over, unhooks it clumsily and jumps onto the seat. Beverly is fast on his heels and places her hand on his handle. He looks down at her and realizes she won’t let him leave without a proper explanation. Beverly is a fire so hot that runs off the love she has for her friends.

                “Richie’s upset because I— _we_ —went to quarry and had a run in with Bowers,” he semi-lies as he grips his hand hard against the handle. “He got beat up pretty bad, as you could probably tell,” he finishes. He watches as she scrunches her eyebrows together in concern, but she does eventually let go of the handle.

                “Now that you mention it,” she says, taking a tiny step away from the bike, “he mentioned you.” Eddie bites down hard on his bottom lip and tugs at the sleeve of his sweater. Beverly watches him with a measured gaze as silence drags between them.

                “Oh?” He asks, forcing a tiny smile. What if Richie told her about them? What if he had told Beverly that Eddie was…was…

                                _What was he?_

                “Yeah, Bowers was apparently saying some fucking terrible things about you,” Beverly says as if it’s all coming back to her. She bites down on her thumb as her eyes widen. “ _That’s_ what it was about! Bowers came up to him and started laying out all this terrible shit, and I guess Richie just…snapped,” she finishes quietly. Eddie swallows thickly as he gets the briefest flash of that fucking switchblade in the back of his mind.

                “I’m going to get him,” Eddie says quickly. His lungs are burning, and he can barely breathe, but _goddammit_ Richie was not going to die for him. Not before he can tell him that he… That he’s…

                “Are you in love with him?” Beverly asks so quietly that Eddie could just pass it off as the wind. A song from a bird far away from this tangled story he’s gotten himself into, but he doesn’t. He feels the burning eyes of his mother on the back of his neck, the judgment of so many eyes he can’t see. Eyes he cannot even fathom. Shaking all of them from his body like water from the quarry, he steps out into the _sun_ and-

                “Yeah,” he breathes, the burn in his lungs settling itself. “I love him so fucking much,” his voice is tight and thin. Beverly smiles at him softly and reaches out to touch his cheek. He grabs her up and holds her tight against his chest, relishes in the swell of happiness, of joy, of _love_ that burns through him like a roaring fire. The joy of really, truly accepting who you are. They detangle from each other’s arms and smile fondly.

                “Go get ‘em tiger,” she shouts loudly as Eddie readies himself on the bike. “I’ll bring Ben and the others. We’ll meet you there!” She yells as Eddie pedals hard away from the school and past Richie’s truck—

                right to the trail by his house.

Eddie finds biking down a wooded path a lot more difficult that he’d thought it would be. Logs are sticking up from the ground in a hazardous display as low hanging branches threaten to take off his head. _He’d really like his head on his neck, thanks._ The brakes squeak loudly in protest as he realizes he can’t go on with his bike any further.

                “Shit,” he mutters to himself, looking down at the overgrown thicket before him. He thinks about Richie and Bowers _and what Bowers could do to Richie._ He’s moving through the thicket before he can even process it, because no matter what he may be to Richie, Eddie will always come through for his friends. He bends down low to avoid a thorn bush and rubs up against something that could definitely, maybe, _probably_ be poison ivy. If Stan were here with him he’d definitely know which plant was which. If there’s some way for the Losers to get to the quarry at sonic speed- Eddie would be totally appreciative.

                He crawls out into the clearing right by the body of water, and it’s no surprise to him when he sees Henry and his goons hanging around. They’re all looking tough, and especially dangerous today as Henry waves around a silver switchblade. To his absolute horror, though, he sees Richie standing to the left of them as they yell back and forth.

                “You’re a real dumbass for coming out here, four-eyes,” Henry hisses as he flips the blade back and forth. Patrick nods enthusiastically as he flanks Henry’s side along with Belch.

                “Yeah! A real fucking dumbass, Trashmouth!” Patrick mimes, greasy hair sloppily falling into his eyes. Richie clenches his fist and uses his free hand to press his glasses up on his nose. Eddie almost laughs when he sees the scotch tape that was used to mend it.

                “Yeah? This dumbass is about to beat your fucking ass, Bowers,” Richie growls, fist twitching by his thigh. Eddie feels his mouth run dry as Henry laughs coolly. He flips the blade back into the pocket of his jeans and pushes the other two boys away from him. “Come on, Bowers! I knew you were a dumbass, but I didn’t know you were a pussy,” Richie taunts as he steps closer to the boy. Eddie watches with eyes as big as saucers as he hopes, prays, that the others will be there soon. He doesn’t know if he can help Richie by himself. Henry saunters right up to Richie and stands completely still- challenging him to move first.

                “I didn’t know one girly ass kid could give you such a hard on, Bucky Beaver,” Henry’s voice drips with a malice Eddie doesn’t know how to explain. His muscles in his arms are clenching tightly as he keeps eye contact with Richie. Richie punches him so fast and hard in the stomach that even Eddie is caught off guard. He falls to the ground for a minute and wheezes loudly. Henry gestures wildly to Belch, Patrick and Vic and they spring up from their places. Vic punches Richie square in the cheek and splits the barely healed skin right open.

                Eddie watches as blood drips down those familiar freckles as Richie falls backwards. Richie flails his fists everywhere, sometimes landing a punch, but mostly barely missing. When he gets a glimpse of the knife pulling slowly out of Henry’s pocket, he knows he’s got to act. He jumps from the bushes and tackles Vic to the ground, which allows Richie to stand up on his feet. Eddie hears the grunts from Vic, but he holds his grip strong and manages to punch him once in the face.

                “Eddie!” Richie says, ignoring how Patrick was running up on him. “Eds, _what the fuck_ are you doing—” Patrick punches him hard in the face before he can finish and he sprawls back to the grass. Vic headbutts Eddie and knocks him to the grass in one fluid motion. He gasps loudly as he feels something cold leak from his forehead and drip to the corner of his mouth.

                “ _My mom is going to fucking kill me_ ,” He says as Vic punches him once more. He hears Richie fighting off Henry and Patrick from somewhere behind him, but he doesn’t feel really there. He wonders, just for a second, if he was dying. Vic is suddenly lifting off him and falling onto his face in the grass as someone lifts Eddie up. He looks up to see Richie, glasses now re-broken, as he helps him stand up. “Rich,” Eddie gasps, feeling a disconnect somewhere in his ribs. “Richie, you can’t do this by yourself,” his voice strains as he watches Belch and Henry get even closer to them.

                “That’s why you’re not going to,” a voice calls from behind them. Eddie whips around as best as he can to see Mike standing at the edge of the clearing. Richie gasps loudly as the Losers jump out onto the grass one by one.

                “Oh, is that how it is, pussy?” Henry sneers, wiping his bloody lip with his hand. “Pussying out on a fight, Fuckface?” He asks, narrowing his eyes at Richie.

                “You sure say pussy a lot for someone who never gets it,” Richie says as he gently lays Eddie on the ground. Beverly rushes up to Eddie and immediately starts patting his body down gently. He can hear her whispering concerns about broken ribs or internal bleeding somewhere in the distance. It all feels so far gone to him. Bill runs out from the trees and punches Patrick in the face so hard he falls to the ground cold. Stan is behind him in an instant, pulling him back towards the bushes as he whispers for Bill not to be so _stupid_.

                Before the others can register it, Henry runs up to Richie and grabs him tightly by the collar of his shirt. Eddie feels Beverly leave his side and go to get them separated, but she stops a little way in front of Eddie. “ _You don’t want to do this,”_ she whispers, voice frail. “Fucking put that knife away, Henry,” her voice doesn’t sound real to Eddie. He cranes his neck up and watches as Richie squirms under the knife that was pressing tight to his stomach.

                “…’Chee…Rich…” Eddie mumbles, his mouth feeling full of cotton. Stan pushes his shoulder lightly and gets him back on the grass. “No…’Chee…” he gasps, struggling against Stan’s hand as Henry starts to press the knife more insistently on his abdomen. Richie swallows hard as he stares directly at Eddie. The world around them is turning into blackness, like the water in the quarry at night. It’s just them together.

                “Eds,” Richie says, voice tight, “I’m so sorry I did something this fuckin’ stupid.” Eddie shakes his head so fast he’s worrying it’ll fly off. “I guess this isn’t the worst way to go, though, yknow? I could be staring at Stan’s mom in the shower,” he tries, his voice breaking on the last word. No one says anything as Henry looks between all of them with a fierce hatred in his eyes.

                “You queers don’t belong here,” Henry hisses as he pulls up Richie’s shirt, “and I guess I gotta make an example of that,” he finishes gruffly. “So, Trashmouth, say goodbye to your ‘Eds’,” he practically purrs as he cuts a thin line into Richie’s stomach. Stan screams so loudly behind him that Eddie’s ears pop. Everyone is crying and someone just threw up and Richie is _howling in misery and—_

Eddie is moving despite the burning in his ribs or the blood flowing from the gash in his head. He’s pushing Henry to the ground and punching him over and over and _over_ until his nails are coloring themselves crimson. He doesn’t stop moving his fists even when Mike and Bill pull him off Henry- not even when they stand him up on his feet. The world spins around him like a disco ball and fades in and out of blackness. Henry struggles to get up and grip the knife, but Beverly kicks him hard in the side and keeps him down.

                “Don’t,” Eddie whispers, eyes nearly rolling back into his head. “Don’t fucking call me Eds,” he says as he passes out and hits the ground with a sickening thud.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie wakes up in a hospital room, confused and injured.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it really makes me sad that this story is wrapping up :( ive loved the feedback from you guys so much! Honestly, when I finished my first fic I never thought I could make something that (to me personally) topped it, but this fic is so loved by me. Anyway, this isn't the last chapter, but we're close. Thank you all so much for reading. 
> 
> honeycombandtea.tumblr.com

                The lights flash above him in a torrid of whites and dull yellows. The brightness hot and sticky against his paper-thin skin. A groan escapes from deep in his throat as he tries to sit up just a bit, but he finds his arms sticking to whatever was behind him. Eyes threatening to close any moment now, but they manage to stay open through his will alone. He scoots up just an inch and opens his eyes fully, taking in the room around him.

                “Hospital?” Eddie croaks as he notices the familiar beeps of machines around him. He’s securely hooked up to many different wires, and a large IV is sticking from his arm. The drips from the bag of fluid echoes behind him. Almost immediately a nurse is rushing in and helping him to sit up a little easier. She’s frantically checking his vitals and poking at every single machine diligently.

                “Oh! Thank God,” she whispers into the air, “you’re stabilized.” Eddie raises an eyebrow as the woman removes the straps from his arms. He wiggles his fingers just a little bit and opens his mouth like a fish when he notices the bruises. Well, they were everywhere almost. A dark purple splotchy color splattering across his tanned olive skin.

                “What happened?” He mumbles into his hand as he tries to move slightly on the bed. Almost immediately after, a deep burn resonates from his chest and he gasps. The nurse rushes over and eases him back into his previous position with a tiny shove.

                “Be very gentle on yourself, Mr. Kaspbrak,” she says softly. Eddie looks up at her from the stiff pillow under his head. “You broke two of your ribs and bruised your liver,” she says as she quickly moves to write something on a chart. Eddie almost chokes when he hears that, and his hand subconsciously tightens around his gown. Two fucking ribs?

                “My mom is going _to kill me,”_ he whispers dejectedly as he pulls at the gown’s material. She looks up from her chart for a minute before placing it on a leather seat behind her.

                “Your mother is actually coming in to see you,” she says as she starts to make her way out of the room. Eddie bites down hard on his bottom lip. _He doesn’t regret what he did._

_He doesn’t regret loving Richie._

                “Has anyone else come in to see me?” he asks, trying to hide the hopefulness in his voice. The nurse shakes her head, one hand on Eddie’s door. His heart plummets down to his stomach. “No one at all,” he mumbles, eyes looking down to the itchy comforter.

                “Your mother had a list of people allowed in to see you,” she says, biting down on her red-painted lips. “But, she was the only one on it.” With that, the nurse slowly leaves the room and Eddie is left with silence. His mother was keeping the only people who truly cared about him away. Of course she would do something like that; why wouldn’t she? Sonia Kaspbrak was sent to make Eddie’s life a living hell until he crawls out of Derry and leaves it far behind. He _aches_ to see Richie and hold him tightly in his arms.

                He wants to see Stan and Bill and laugh about the old days when they were just pint-sized partners in crime. Where the whole world consisted of how far the sandbox stretched and where their imaginations ended. Of course, he dreams of seeing the others and laughing with them at their lunch table. Somewhere Eddie will always remember as a sacred place, far away from any demon or monster or _Henry Bowers_.

                “Eddie-Bear!” Sonia calls as she runs into the room and grabs up Eddie’s hand. Her hand feels sweaty and gross, but he tries not to yank his fingers out of hers. She sinks in the leather chair and scoots it up as close as possible to the bed. “Oh, Eddie, look at you!” She gasps, tracing over every bump and bruise with her eyes. Eddie shrinks under her gaze and stares at the door instead.

                “How long was I sleeping for?” He asks quietly, eyes still staring at the closed door. Sonia hums quietly to herself as she lets go of Eddie’s hand.

                “Three days or so,” she says sadly as she scoots the chair away. He watches her face take on a stern expression and he withers. “I told you these hooligans weren’t good for you, Edward!” She rants as she plants her hands on her hips. “I told you _. Did you listen_?” She asks, waiting for Eddie to reply. Eddie shakes his head softly as he focuses his eyes on the comforter again. “What happens when you don’t listen to mama?” She coos, petting his greasy hair down with her big hand. Bile threatens to rush into his mouth as he scoots softly away from her rancid touch.

                “I’m not sorry,” he says, although he can’t look at her. “I’m not sorry for helping my friends,” his words are the only thing piercing the now totally silent room. Even the noisy machines seem to have quieted their beeping. She gasps loudly and retracts her hand as if burned.

                “You don’t mean that, Edward,” she hisses. Eddie shakes his head and looks up at her face with more confidence than he feels. She seems stunned as she takes several steps back from the bed.

                “You’ve kept me from _everything all of my fucking life!_ ” He shouts, face turning a deep red from anger. “You’re keeping me from the only people who’ve _really_ cared about me, because you’re scared of losing control,” he says snidely as he gives her a nasty glare. She sinks back into the chair and immediately begins to cry.

                “Eddie, please!” She sobs, her hands shaking wildly. “I’m only _protecting_ you. I don’t want you to end up like your father—”

                                “Stop talking about dad like he’s a valid reason for this!” Eddie sobs, hair falling into his eyes. Sonia’s lips quiver, but she says no more as she settles into the chair. “You’re sick, mom, and I can’t handle it anymore!” He wheezes, hand rising to his chest and taking a fistful of the material. “You’re g-gonna give me a _fucking panic attack!_ ” Eddie manages to get out while trying to take deep breaths.  Sonia wipes tears from her glassy eyes as she stands shakily, and then makes her way out of his room without another word. The door squeak loudly as it shuts, and Eddie is left in total darkness and a hole in his heart a mother should fill.

                _How long has that been empty for?_

He settles back down on the pillow that smells too much like lemon cleaner and burns his nose every time he dare breathe in. Wrinkling his nose up in disgust, he wriggles away from the pillow and places his hand into his chin.

                “Excuse me, Mr. Kaspbrak?” His nurse pokes her head in the room and greets Eddie with a smile. Eddie softly smiles back and welcomes her in with a gesture of his arm. “I was just thinking,” she says politely, flicking on a clunky looking radio, “…that maybe you’d want to listen to some music?” Eddie nods quickly, and his response is a soft chuckle as she thumbs through the static to find a station.

 _You keep your distance with a system of touch_  
And gentle persuasion  
I'm lost in admiration, could I need you this much?

                The nurse bobs her head along to the music for a couple of seconds before pulling away and turning to face the bed. “This work for you, sir?” She asks, gesturing to the radio calmly. Eddie gives her a small thumbs-up and she grins back at him. Grabbing her pen up from the clipboard and placing it back behind her ear she goes to leave the room, but faulters at the door. “Oh, yeah! There are some visitors for you,” she says cheerily.  “I know your mother said not to let anyone in, but they were extremely persistent,” she finishes with a wink as she leaves the room. Eddie feels his palms begin to rapidly coat themselves with sweat. _They? It couldn’t be, could it?_

_Oh, you're wasting my time  
You're just, just, just wasting time_

_Something happens_

                The music drones on behind him as he watches six familiar faces run into his small hospital room. Eddie cries open tears of joy as Beverly wraps her arms firmly against his neck and holds him. They all join in on the hug, and Eddie holds on so hard his hands ache dully. He’s _sobbing_ into the soft red curls of Beverly and _clinging_ to Ben’s polo shirt. For just an achingly short second, Eddie forgets he’s in the hospital with broken ribs and a bruised liver to match. They pull away awkwardly and wipe tears from their eyes. “You guys really came,” Eddie says brokenly. Stan smiles and Eddie watches as he wipes a tear from his eye.

                “We’re so fucking glad you’re okay,” he says softly. Eddie notices how his hand is curling up into Bill’s and smiles to himself.

                “Fucking finally, you two,” Eddie says with a smile as he points to their conjoined hands. Stan grimaces and flushes a deep red as he flips Eddie off, but Bill just shyly smiles.

                “S-Stan is really something e-e-else,” he admits, eyes crinkling up fondly as he peeks to look at Stan. Beverly lets out an audible ‘awh’ as Ben claps for them in the distance. Now that all the emotions have finally began to settle; Eddie takes note of the people in the room.

                Well, more like the _one single person_ missing. He’s looking for the smell of cigarettes and aching for black wild curls with a smile to match. Beverly notices and takes his hand into hers gently-then squeezes tight. There’s a punctuating silence between all of them, and maybe Eddie notices Stan grab Bill’s hand harder, but he doesn’t comment on it. The tension does all the commenting for him.

                “Richie is at home, but he’s seriously injured,” she says, voice barely audible. Eddie feels tears prick up and dare to splash against his cheeks. _After all of that I still couldn’t save him._ “He _really_ wanted to be here, but Bowers slashed him pretty good,” she says as she slowly let’s go of Eddie’s hand. He sits up straight in his bed and ignores the burning in his ribs. Mike starts to move as if wanting to help him lay down, but Eddie shakes his head in his direction.

                “I’m leaving,” he says, swinging sore legs over the bed. “I’m going to see him,” he whispers to himself. Beverly places her hands on his shoulder and keeps him from getting up.

                “You can’t, Eddie. You are _way_ too hurt to be walking around,” she says. The others nod in agreement, silently begging for Eddie to just rest. Shaking his head calmly, Eddie rises from the bed, despite Beverly’s surprisingly strong grip. It was due time for him to take his own life into his hands.

                “No, Bev. I’m making my own choice, hurt or not,” he says while clenching his teeth. The force of standing up alone causes tremendous shivers of pain to rocket up his body. “My whole life I’ve been told what to do and when to do it,” he says, shaking his head. Beverly helps him stand and Mike steps outside to call for his nurse.

                “Are you sure this is _safe_?” Stan asks incredulously, eyebrow raising high. Eddie shakes his head in response, which makes Stan pull a face of worry. “Come on, Eddie. Just wait until you’re both healed,” he tries, hand slipping from Bill’s. Bill nods in agreement as he stands by Stan. The music continues playing in the background, but it’s more like a distant buzzing noise in Eddie’s head. It’s making him feel fuzzy somehow, and he’s shaking his head again to get rid of the feeling.

                “I got to do this, guys,” he begs as his nurse walks back in with Mike. She grabs Eddie up along with Beverly and place him down into a chair. She checks his vitals carefully and peeks up his shirt to check on the mosaic of bruises. The pain isn’t too unbearable anymore—just a burning beneath the skin. Maybe, just maybe, the adrenaline from the thought of seeing Richie was getting to his head. The nurse pulls away softly and pats Eddie’s cheek with the back of her hand. The touch is cool against his ruddy cheeks, and he sighs softly, but it sounds loud in the quiet surrounding him.

                “You’re certainly in no condition to be out and about,” she says, wagging her finger at Eddie. He wilts in the chair and pouts without any shame. Richie would definitely tease him for that. He’d reach over and mess with his hair and call him Eds and make Eddie’s heart _do laps around the room._ “But, a couple of hours shouldn’t hurt,” she says, lowering her voice so no one outside could hear their conversation. His heart burns brightly as he gives her a huge smile. Maybe it was the medication, but it was probably just the thought of seeing him. The song finally slows to a stop, and now Eddie manages to make sense of the words.

 _Something happens and I'm head over heels_  
I never find out till I'm head over heels  
Something happens and I'm head over heels  
Ah, don't take my heart, don't break my heart  
Don't, don't, don't throw it away

                He stands up with a bit of help from Beverly and Ben and walks slowly towards the door. Peering back at the pristine white of the room he feels a shiver move through his spine. He and the nurse share an understanding look as she’s making the bed.  

                “Don’t tell my mom,” he says, eyes pleading with her. She raises a finger and puts it over her lips.

* * *

 

                “Oh my god, this is such a fucking bad idea,” Stan groans as they pull up by the curb of Richie’s house. The house is a small two-story home made of red brick and decorated with flower pots by each of the windows. He notices how perfect and pristine the house looks and the sharp contrast it pulls when placed by Richie.

                “It’ll be fine,” Ben assures Stan as he helps Eddie walk up to the front door. Stan mumbles something unintelligible, but it sounds like he’s irritated. Bill whispers something soothing into his hair and he deflates instantly. Beverly and Mike walk in front of them and both knock on the door. Birds sing quietly from trees hanging above them, and Eddie doesn’t miss the way Stan shoots his head up to take a look. The door swings open with a groan and a tired looking woman with short hair stands before them. She has a bottle of coke in one hand and a lit cigarette poking out of her other hand. _Nice way to kill yourself twice as fast_ , Eddie thinks.

                “I know Beverly. But, are you all friends with Richard?” She asks, raising an eyebrow as she tosses her cigarette to the pavement and stomps it out. Eddie nods and she responds with a stiff-looking smile. “Well, he’s been sleeping in his room all day, but you can try to wake him up,” she says as she let’s them through the door. The inside of the house is barren in an almost startling way. Shelves were stuffed full of crackers and cosmic brownies. Eddie raises his eyebrows at the sight of the brownies, and the woman next to him sighs lightly. “Those are Richard’s favorite,” she says, pulling one down from the shelf. “He always begs me to get them at the store,” she smiles fondly at the package and places it in Eddie’s hand. The brownie sits in his hand and he stares down at it, somewhere in the back of his mind hearing his mother:

                _No sweets, Eddie-Bear!_

                “Do you want me to give this to him?” Eddie asks, looking back up at her. She nods quickly and points them to the stairs. Ben wraps his arm around Eddie and help him move gently up the stairs. The pain in his ribs is starting to make itself known, but Eddie pushes through. Beverly moves in front of them and easily leads them to Richie’s door. The door is covered in posters, but the most obvious thing is the big ‘RICHIE TRASHMOUTH TOZIER’ in block letters. She knocks on the door once, twice, and then:

                “Can’t a guy die in peace?” A hoarse voice croaks from behind the door. Eddie feels his heart spring up into his throat as he moves away from Ben and walks slowly into the room. Richie is covering his head with pillows, his torso clearly wrapped tight with bandages. He has a new pair of glasses sitting low on his nose, and _God_ , do they make him look good. They stare at each other in silence as a powerful electricity pings off Eddie’s body.

                “Should’ve done that already, Trashmouth,” Eddie says with a shaking voice. The other Losers quietly leave the room, and Bev shuts the door behind them. Richie looks up at him with his mouth agape as he pushes himself to sit up straight. He groans lowly—obviously in discomfort.

                “Eds gets off a good one,” he says with a watery laugh. He’s suddenly running to Richie, like running _home_ after a long day of school, and wrapping him tightly in his arms. Eddie is so fucking sore but Richie cools the pain. Or maybe it was the painkillers—either or. Richie is laughing and crying and they’re both a fucking mess, but they’re messes together. Isn’t that what matters? “God, look at you,” he whispers, pulling away to look at Eddie’s face. Eddie knits his brows together in annoyance.

                “What? You don’t think I know I look bad?” He asks, rolling his eyes. His breath hitches when he feels Richie gently rub his thumb against the bruise on his cheekbone.

                “Nuh uh, my Love. I was just thinkin’ how badass those make you look,” he purrs as he swipes his thumb over the same spot. Eddie stops himself from melting and finds enough morals to pull away from the touch.

                “Yknow Stan and Bill are together now?” Eddie asks, pulling away from Richie once the pain in his ribs forces him to. He gets a wiggle of eyebrows in response along with a wolf whistle.

                “I’ll get them condoms!” He says loudly enough to be heard from across the door. Stan immediately bursts in with his face a bright red.

                “I’ll fucking kill you, Richie!” He squeaks, Bill behind him in an instant. Eddie stares up at the rest of them with shock.

                “You guys were listening in this whole fucking time?” He says, face matching Stan’s. Bill flushes and looks away casually.

                “W-w-well w-w-we,” he tries, but he’s so flustered he can’t make the sentence. Beverly pops up from behind him with a cheeky grin.

                “Absolutely! Gotta make sure nothing too sexy was happening in here,” she says with a chuckle as she blows a kiss at Richie. He catches it in his hand and rubs it all over his face- miming a makeout session. Eddie groans loudly.

                “You’re disgusting,” he says, pushing lightly on Richie’s shoulder. He shrugs in response and pushes his glasses up on his nose.

                “You wouldn’t wanna be anywhere else, Eds,” he states like it’s a fact. He’s not wrong, though, because it’s true. He’s sore as fuck and bruised everywhere and _he could really go for a nap._

                                _But there’s no place he’d rather be._

 

 


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The End.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is it. I really can't believe I've finished my second fic on this site. First of all, thank you to everyone who has sat down and took time out of your day to read my work. Whether you loved it or hated it-- thank you so much. Your feedback and kindness fuels my passion for writing. I truly love every one of my readers. 
> 
> Thank you again, and I hope you join me on my next adventure!  
> honeycombandtea.tumblr.com

_Three weeks later_

                “I can’t believe your parents are letting me stay with you,” Eddie huffs as he hulls the box of knickknacks up to Stan’s room. The stairs squeak loudly under his feet as he pulls open the bedroom door. Stan, of course, has a room that’s extremely well organized. There’s a lot of color-coding everywhere and a planner that sits perfectly on his writing desk. His bed is always made, like Eddie’s, but the corners of the comforter are meticulously tucked into the bedframe. Stan shrugs as he hangs up a few of Eddie’s sweaters.

                “What did you expect? That we were just going to let you on the streets?” Stan asks with a huff as he bends down to grab some overalls. Eddie scoffs as he starts to place his boxes by his mattress.

                “Richie wanted me to stay with him, but his room is so fucking gross and cramped,” Eddie says with a shiver as he absentmindedly thumbs over a polaroid of Richie and himself by the quarry.  Eddie smiles as he presses the picture over his heart when Stan turns to hang up more shirts. Bev did a really good job taking that one.

                “Nice to know you’re using me for my cleanliness,” Stan quips as he finishes hanging up Eddie’s last wooly sweater up into his closet. He takes a big breath in and pivots back to Eddie with an exhausted looking smile. It makes since, they’d been moving his things for the past five hours or so. “It’s not like you can help the fact your mother is…” Stan pauses as if searching for a delicate way to phrase it.

                “Crazy?” Eddie finishes for him as he sits down on his mattress. Stan clicks his tongue and joins him. “You can say it. It’s not like you’re wrong,” Eddie says as he gives a friendly pat to Stan’s knee. He snorts in response and shoves Eddie’s shoulder.

                “Okay. Well, she’s batshit,” he says. Eddie hums in agreement. “I mean, who does that? You tell her how you feel _one time,_ and now she doesn’t want you in her house,” Stan whispers sadly as he peers over at Eddie.

                “Imagine how she’ll react when she finds out I’m gay and dating Richie ‘Trashmouth’ Tozier,” Eddie half-jokes, but it doesn’t stop the icy fear in his chest. Richie and him had only been dating as of three weeks ago, but he feels like a clock is slowly ticking down the time they have together. And what about Sonia, anyway? What will happen when she eventually finds out that, yes, her _perfect little straight boy_ kisses other boys. Eddie bites down onto his knuckles as he stares intently at Stan’s wallpaper.

                “Hey,” Stan says as he awkwardly pats Eddie’s back. “Hey, come on, it’ll be alright.” Eddie appreciates the gesture immensely, since Stan has always been awkward with physical contact. Not that he’s like that with Bill, though.

                “You think so?” Eddie asks, feeling small. He gets back a warm smile and a tussle of his hair. Eddie laughs as he tickles under Stan’s arms to get him to move away.

                “Yes!” Stan squeaks through a laugh. “Yes. If any two people are meant to be together, it’s you and Rich.” Eddie places his hands back into his lap and smiles fondly up at Stan. He gets just a second of a memory dance before his eyes. Eddie and Stan, two tiny little things running around on sidewalks and tripping in the woods. Of course, they were following Bill—their fearless leader.

                “You’re good with Bill,” Eddie says as he settles into the mattress. “You two were like made for each other.” Stan scoffs as his cheeks color themselves a dusty pink that matches his sweater. Eddie raises an eyebrow and Stan throws a pillow at him.

                “I don’t like talking about mushy stuff,” Stan admits as he folds his hands together. “I feel like if I talk about it too much, I’m setting it up to fail.”

                “Trust me,” Eddie says as he stands back up, “I know how that feels.” Stan looks up at him from the mattress with a sad, yet understanding, glint to his eyes. He shakes out his curls with his hand and follows Eddie. They walk to the large window that outlooks Stan’s small front yard, and both jump like cats when someone blares on their horn.

                “Let’s go, you twinks!” Richie shouts as he sticks his head out of the window. Stan flinches from the noise and holds a hand up to his left ear. Eddie grabs his shoes and follows Stan down to the main level, then out of the house. Their feet crunch the dead leaves on Stan’s lawn as they make their way to the truck—which currently housed all the Losers. Bill, Mike, Ben and Bev were all huddling together in the bed of the truck.

                “I hate Richie sometimes,” Stan says with a chuckle as he starts for the bed of the truck. Eddie mumbles an agreement as he pulls the passenger door open and slides in beside him. Richie is, of course, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel and looking over at Eddie with a sly grin.

                “Howdy,” he mumbles as he leans over to press a quick kiss to Eddie’s lips. Eddie sighs as he gently presses his lips back and slowly curls his fingers into Richie’s hair. He breaks away and pecks him one more time on the mouth before moving to buckle in. “We were just getting started, Eds,” Richie complains loudly as he shifts the truck into drive.

                “Safety first, Trashmouth,” Eddie quips back and sticks his tongue out. Richie pulls an ugly face in return and they go back and forth for a bit. They jump apart when Beverly knocks at the window separating the bed from the truck.

                “You guys planning to get a room, or are we going anywhere?” She asks with a grin. Richie rolls his eyes.

                “Says the Queen of PDA,” Richie says with a chuckle as he drives off down the neighborhood and takes a turn for the woods. Eddie feels a nervousness manifest in his stomach like a rock. The seven of them hadn’t dare stepped foot in the woods since the Bowers incident, but with three weeks behind them, and Bowers in juvy, they figured why not. Richie fumbles with the radio which was hissing a constant stream of static.

                “Man, I love this song,” Eddie says as Richie drives down the path to the quarry. Richie giggles as he takes the last turn to the clearing. He parks his truck in the grass and quickly pulls out the keys.

                “My personal favorite song is when your mother—”

                “Beep beep, Richie!” Mike calls from beside the driver side door as Richie jumps out. Richie shrugs innocently as Eddie thumps him on the head lightly. Eddie takes in the chilly weather and the orange-yellowing leaves that clump on the bare boned trees. It was beautiful, truly. Almost like a painting was being shaken into reality. The trees sway softly in the breeze and more leaves fall to tangle together by their feet. Mike softly picks one up and observes it.

                “No offense,” Stanley says, hand wrapping around Bill’s, “but what’s the point of coming here? It’s too cold to swim.” Richie grins wide as he points to a pile of damp looking logs.

                “W-w-what are those for?” Bill asks, lightly moving a piece of wood with the tip of his sneaker.

                “Jesus, Bill! For the leader you aren’t that bright,” Richie says with a smirk as he begins to pile the logs on top of each other. “We’re all gonna have a bonfire tonight and watch the stars. No sex, though,” Richie says with a chuckle as he continues stacking the logs. “I’m lookin’ at you, Bev.” Beverly rolls her eyes and lightly bumps Ben’s shoulder.

                “I’m not sure if we’re the ones that would be doing anything,” Ben says as he raises an eyebrow. Eddie chokes as his face becomes a red that could rival the leaves.

                “I’m saving my first time for your mother, Ben,” Eddie says sharply as he takes a seat on one of the logs. Richie whoops behind him in approval.

                “Eds gets off a good one!” Richie cheers as he sinks down next to him. The log isn’t really comfortable, but it’ll do. There is a warm smell of late fall hanging in the woods, and it almost smells like home. Mike grabs some matches and starts a small, but warm, fire. The crackling noises could almost lull Eddie right to sleep where he feels safest. His friends surrounding him.

                “Woah, check that out!” Bev says while pointing to a bright white constellation. The stars twinkle in and out in the evening sky.

                “Th-that’s th-the little d-dipper,” Bill says proudly as he guides Stan to look at it. Eddie sits in comfortable silence as he admires the little wonder of nature before him. Richie takes his hand and holds it, Eddie squeezes back tightly.

                “It’s really pretty,” Eddie says softly as he traces the constellations with his eye.

                “My new shirt? I know,” Richie says as another peaceful silence blankets the group. They sit like that for hours, probably. Roasting half-melted marshmallows Richie had the bright idea of stealing from his dad’s personal stash. Eddie eats them without abandon, not even thinking about the possibility of rotting his teeth or immediately contracting some sort of rare disease. It’s probably around midnight when people start to drift off, Bill being the first. “We should draw my dick on his cheek,” Richie remarks as he pokes Bill’s stomach with a stick. Stanley rolls his eyes as he shoos away Richie’s prodding.

                “We wouldn’t even be able to see anything,” he mumbles sleepily as he places his head on Bill’s chest in a rare moment of public affection. Beverly, Ben and Mike were all dozing off underneath the shade of a large tree together. Richie thought ahead enough to bring blankets, so everyone could at least have one. Of course, he’d seemingly forgotten to bring one for Eddie.

                “Oh crap, Eds!” Richie whispers in a voice too loud for any kind of whisper. “I forgot a blanket, guess you’ll have to share with me.” Eddie rolls his eyes as Richie pats the ground fondly.

                “You dipshit,” Eddie says with a yawn as he gets beside Richie—no pillow walls to separate them. Eddie feels him comb through his soft hair with the tips of his fingers as kisses were ghosting themselves down his neck. The stars are flickering quietly above them, setting a romantic kind of mood. “Mmm, Rich,” Eddie mumbles as he half-heartedly pushes Richie away. “We’ll get in _so much shit_ if they wake up.” Richie smiles and his eyes flicker with something like lust in the darkness. He pulls himself close to the shell of Eddie’s ear and mumbles:

                                “Baby, they won’t know,” he says as he places a kiss to Eddie’s temple. Eddie relaxes into his touch and his fingers follow a path up to Richie’s hair. He pulls on the curls lightly. “You’re so beautiful, Eds. Yknow that?” Richie mumbles against Eddie’s cheek as he presses feathery kisses to his whole face. Eddie giggles and squirms against the ticklish feeling.

                                “Stop, you sap!” He whispers playfully as Richie kisses him on the lips. Their arms are entangling together as Richie slowly scoots himself up on Eddie. He feels the pressure of Richie’s body on his, but he doesn’t mind as he nips his bottom lip. The groan he gets in response travels directly to his crotch, and he can feel his heart racing loudly in his ears.

                                “Mrs. K really made something hot! Surprising, coming from her,” Richie mumbles to himself as he shrugs his shirt off. The moonlight dances against his freckled-kissed chest and makes him look like a painting. He’s reaching out and rubbing his thumb down his collar bone before he can stop himself, but Richie is leaning heavily into the touch. Eddie traces his hand down to the top of Richie’s jeans and bites down on his lip hard. “Sorry, babe.” Richie says thickly as he swats Eddie’s hand away. “Not yet.”

                Eddie pouts hard, but quickly changes his tune when he feels the palm of Richie’s hand pressing down on the crotch of his shorts. Hissing as he breathes in, he looks down with his mouth hanging open uselessly. “Oh, God…” He babbles, watching the way the hand moves. Richie plunges his hand down into his shorts—Eddie nearly screams when he feels him cup his dick through his boxers.

                “Can I touch you?” Richie asks, his voice sounding tight and wrecked. Eddie nods wordlessly, finding his tongue was failing him. He bites down hard on his fist as he feels Richie slowly pump him up and down. “Look at you, baby. So good for me,” Richie mumbles as his eyes glass over. A groan escapes Eddie throat as Richie tugs down his shorts in one fluid motion and flings them off to the side.

                “Asshole! You’ll get them dirty,” Eddie says harshly as Richie shrugs. He’s back on top of him in a second and Eddie totally forgets about his cargo shorts. They’re kissing so roughly that it’s more like the clinking of teeth on each other. He’s pulling at thick black curls as Richie glides his way down his body and tugs off his jeans with a single kick of his legs. He’s hanging down on top of him, hair falling into his eyes as he pants heavily. Suddenly Eddie can’t hold it in any longer. “I love you,” he says as Richie stills above him. Panic thrums behind his eyelids as he forces them to close.

                “Open your eyes,” Richie says with his voice shockingly soft. Eddie manages to crack his eyes open just a pinch and watches as tears silently drip down Richie’s cheeks. Panic is full-force rocketing through Eddie’s veins, a part of him almost wants to get up and escape from the area. “I love you so much, Eddie Kaspbrak. I knew you were mine since I saw you argue why your wrong answer was right in math,” he says with a watery laugh as he wipes his tears underneath his glasses. His heart stops for a couple of seconds as he finds himself crying, too. “You’re the only person for me,” Richie says earnestly as he cups Eddie’s cheek. “If you weren’t here,” he says, a reflection of pain in his eyes, “I….I couldn’t be me.”

                Eddie grabs him by his neck and crashes their lips together, answering him wordlessly. He feels a tear run down Richie’s nose and splatter against Eddie’s cheek. They wrap their arms so tightly around each other, new, yet almost ancient, feelings raw underneath the moonlight. Richie breaks away with a loud gasp as Eddie bravely strokes his dick. He watches the way Richie’s cherry-red mouth hangs open. “Cat got your tongue, Trashmouth?” Eddie asks thickly as Richie pulls out of his touch and grabs up Eddie.

                Eddie cries out in pure unabashed pleasure as Richie strokes them both together. He’s biting down hard on his fist--- knowing he won’t be able to last long. “Oh god, Eds,” Richie nearly sobs through clenched teeth. “Eds, I can’t—I won’t—”

                “Me too,” Eddie pants hard. Richie speeds up and almost a minute later Eddie is crashing down and whispering Richie’s name over and over and over like a prayer. Richie watches him as he, too, follows. Richie rolls off Eddie and flops down hard on their blanket. The night breeze sends a shiver running up Eddie’s spine as he peers sleepily at the stars. Silence falls over the two, and for a moment, Eddie figures Richie must have been sleeping.

                “Would you ever marry me?” Richie asks with a tone that lacks any humor. Eddie chokes loudly as he covers his eyes with his arm. “I’m serious, Eddie!” Richie says with a chuckle as he takes his arm away from his eyes. Eddie looks over to him and flushes at what he sees. Richie’s hair is a mess _(did he do that?)_ and his eyes are still a little glassy. His lips are kiss-bitten and a bright red that matches the color on his cheeks.  “I mean, I could always ask your mom if she’d be interested in marrying the Trashmouth,” he muses. Eddie swats his arm.

                “Oh, shut it! If anyone’s gonna marry you, it’s me,” Eddie blurts without really thinking. His eyes grow to the size of large saucers as he flushes bright red. Richie looks at him with a bright and goofy grin. Their hands find each other and entangle.

                “You really mean it?” He asks, voice sounding like a hopeful child. Eddie just nods in response. “You’re not embarrassed to be with me?” Richie wonders with a giggle.

                “I wouldn’t take it _that_ far,” Eddie quips as Richie scoots over to wrap his arms around him. “You know we have school tomorrow, right?” He asks as Richie puts his head on his shoulder.

                “Mhmmm. Why?” He asks sleepily against Eddie’s skin. They shiver lightly from the breeze that glides on their cheeks. Eddie takes deep breath in and readies himself:

                “Wanna walk in holding hands?” He asks, voice small. Richie grins against him as he nuzzles up even closer.

                “Why, I’ll say, I’ve never heard of a better idea,” he says in a southern drawl. Eddie giggles and kicks him under the blanket lightly.

                “Your impressions suck ass,” he says fondly as he starts to drift off. Richie yawns softly in response.

                “You fell for them,” he says as he, too, closes his eyes. Eddie smiles as sleep almost finds him.

                “Yeah. I really did,” he says. They both fall asleep that way—together. No matter what obstacle or college or distance—they’d be together. They both knew it at that moment. Eddie was never sure of opening himself up to love, but with Richie it felt okay. It felt like each moment lasted forever and would never end. They jumped from cliffs and ran from feelings but through all of it:

                _They had fallen together._


End file.
